The Breaking Point
by Alexand Morgan
Summary: Everyone has a breaking point and Harry had found his. Someone stepped in when they saw him being abused and his life changes as he gains a mentor and a friend. He dedicates himself to gaining control of his own life and finding his own path forward. This change sees him finding out more about the origins and history of magic.
1. Chapter 1

The pain did not disappear. His head, stomach and his back screamed out to him for relief from the searing agony. The beatings were nothing new to him, and he had started becoming accustomed to this pain as a normal part of his existence. His uncle had used his fists at first and then graduated to the belt. He had swung wildly not caring the damage it caused but only the end result of pain, which he took delight in.

Harry felt a familiar heat thrumming in his chest. Tonight, though the warmth started spreading throughout his body and slowly the pain lessened as it did this. If he could have seen his body, he would have been surprised to note that the bruises and abrasions slowly disappeared. He was ten years old today and a beating was his gift from his family.

The absence of the pain allowed him to find some measure of comfort, so he closed his eyes as sleep captured him.

A loud noise raised him from his slumber, as someone beat repeatedly on the cupboard door. As usual it was one of his jailers demanding he get up and prepare their breakfast or should he daresay buffet. The amount of food they consumed was several times larger portions than most normal people could stomach. He snorted to himself as he thought that jailer was the only correct way to refer to them. The physical abuse had gone on for years and when they figured he was old enough to understand, numerous threats to place him in an orphanage. He had read the stories of Oliver Twist and had feared the possibility at first, but now he often wondered to himself, 'Was it such a bad thing as compared to this hellhole where he now resides?'

He grunted as his body tried to combat the stiffness he felt from being crammed into such a small place and noted the light under the cupboard door as proof that morning had arrived. As usual his body had healed but the memory of the beating was thick in his throat. He stepped out slowly and his eyes registered the female beast of the trio that he lived with. He had tried being polite, submissive and all that he could to avoid the beatings, but nothing was ever good enough. He made up his mind, from this moment on that everything that they did to him he would one day repay with interest. What worse could they do to him?

He looked at her blankly, wondering absentmindedly why his aunt and uncle's appearance matched their personalities so well. She was a bony woman with a longer than normal neck and often wore a sneer on her face. His uncle was a fat almost walrus sized man with a thick neck which changed color with his mood and sweated easily. His cousin Dudley was overweight, and his appearance and mannerisms reminded him of a pig. An ugly bad-tempered pig.

His aunt noticed that he was not moving as quickly as he normally did, and she sneered at him disdainfully, "What are you looking at you freak?"

He said nothing but instead just looked at her with a blank expression. After hearing someone call you the same thing time after time he had stopped caring about the word a long time ago. So, what if she thought he was a freak. One day this same freak would have his day.

The slap that came was not surprising to him and it cemented within him that he no longer cared what they did. He turned his head slowly back towards her as he felt the skin on his cheek heating up as the blood rushed to the spot, clearly showing the mark where her hand had landed.

He laughed and taunted her, "That will not clear up anytime soon. What excuse will you give the neighbors to show that your delinquent of a nephew deserved this abuse.?"

Her face paled slightly as she remembered that they normally never hit him anywhere where it would be noticed. She recovered quickly and sputtered out, "Go fix breakfast you demon."

She ran up the stairs to talk to Vernon and to alert him to the new attitude their tenant had now taken towards them. He took his time cooking and made sure to eat a full portion of breakfast. He made up his mind that he would no longer allow himself to be starved, especially when his cousin was the size of a small blimp and his uncle was an adult sized version. He dumped the eggs bacon and toast on a platter and walked through the back door into the back yard and looked around the neighborhood.

The neighbor to his right was an old retired man who smoked a pipe on his back porch in the evenings when the temperature outside cooled down. He seldom spoke to anyone and would often stare into space at some scene that played out before his eyes only. He would stay fixated for sometimes hours with an angry expression on his face and sometimes tears as he stayed in that trance. He was not there this morning, so Harry turned his head to look at the house on the other side of the fence.

The neighbor to the left of his house was a young man from the Caribbean who had moved in within the last month. He was in his early twenties and seemed to be the quiet sort. He spoke with a rich accent and always greeted anyone he met. He had been polite but distant, when the neighbors had introduced themselves. His skin was the shade of a walnut and he had a round nose and a friendly smile whenever he interacted with his neighbors. He was solidly built, of average height and exuded a self confidence that he found appealing. He was always polite but never indulged in relaying any personal information to the nosy housewives in the neighborhood. They knew he was a teacher and that he was from somewhere in the Caribbean but not much else.

He had cultivated the hedges around his new home until they were in pristine shape and kept them well trimmed. His lawn was kept neatly trimmed and he was always doing some sort of work in his garden. He had built a greenhouse in his back garden and Harry often wondered what he would grow in it. He often used two machetes, between three to four feet long as he trimmed the hedges. His hands moved in unison and effortlessly swung them in a hypnotic motion, as leaves and branches were quickly removed to leave a uniform and surprisingly neat hedge behind him for the tools he used.

His name was Julian and he looked up briefly and shouted "Wuddup young fella." His hands never stopped their movements as he acknowledged young Harry. Harry waved back with a grin as he watched the rapid actions of the machetes as they effortlessly moved in synch to complete the rapid and skilled trimming before him.

Harry briefly wished for half of the skill Julian wielded the blades with, and the power and opportunity to use them on the Dursleys.

He was jerked roughly back by a rough hand on his right shoulder. He turned slightly and looked at the owner of the hand and with a nonchalant voice said, "Hello uncle Jailer." The blow was not a surprise to him as his head was thrown back with a roundhouse punch. He landed roughly on the ground and felt the blood trickling down his bruised but unbroken nose. His uncle stepped menacingly forward, his fat face red and already sweating profusely, as his eyes silently declared his intent to hand out a serious beating.

Vernon stopped suddenly as a cold calm voice stilled his movements," What do you think you are doing you fat cunt?"

Harry laughed quietly despite the pain as his uncle's face turned pale, realizing that someone had seen his actions and then flushed purple with anger as he realized that he had been insulted.

"This is none of your business," he blustered out as he realized that today was not going well for the Dursley household.

His face paled as he realized that the young man from next door had moved right up to the fence and was staring at him with both machetes resting on his shoulder, with the sharp blades reflecting the early sunlight. He tried playing off his actions as he blustered out, "He verbally abused my wife, so I was just trying to discipline him."

Julian's eyes never left his as he calmly stated, "That is not a good enough reason to justify an overweight cunt like you hitting a young boy with your fists like that."

Vernon's face started to darken again as he decided to try to intimidate the young man as he blustered out, "I am a manager at Grunnings Drills young man, and a word from me to the police sergeant friend of mine, could see your life getting very difficult."

The man's face twitched, and he laughed dismissively at the threat. "Help is of no use to a dead man and if you try to threaten me again, know that I can and will make you disappear without anyone questioning my whereabouts or involvement."

He said all of this in a calm forthright manner and his face remained blank as if he was discussing the weather.

Vernon paled as he realized that this man had meant every word he said. He twirled around and grabbed Harry and shouted at him, "Did you hear him threaten me boy?"

Harry looked him dead in the eye and sneered, "I heard nothing due to the ringing in my ear from your cuff to my face."

Vernon realized that it was unlikely that his freak of a nephew would support him as a witness and decided to try to bargain with the man. "Listen, maybe we got off to the wrong start. How about we just pretend none of this ever happened and we just go about our business as before?"

Julian looked him dead in the eye and calmly promised him, "If I ever see you hit or abusing that young man like that again, I can guarantee you that the treatment you mete out to him will be returned tenfold unto you. I am educated about and intimately aware of the law. I will personally ensure that an investigation is launched into the treatment of this young man and if it is found that this treatment is the norm, you can kiss your freedom and your job goodbye. If there is no justice dealt I will personally deal it out myself." He turned to Harry and spoke gently to him, "Come with me to get that bruise treated." Harry walked to the waist high fence and was lifted easily over by his neighbor as they both walked away leaving Vernon there in a state of shock.

As Harry walked with him he briefly wondered 'Where had the machetes disappeared to?'

Vernon rushed inside to alert Petunia as to what had happened. She was sitting at the table with Dudley slowly eating a slice of toast, while Dudley was wolfing down almost everything on the platter, that Harry had placed there. He panted out the recent events to her, she instantly paled as she realized that their reputation was in danger if the story got out and maybe much worse if they were investigated. She panicked even more as she realized that the cupboard and a medical examination of the boy would quickly reveal their mistreatment. She sighed as she looked over at their son, "We have no choice but to put the boy in the fourth bedroom and to change the way we treat him. Maybe if we try reasoning with Julian, we can keep this incident quiet." She met her husband's eyes and they decided to wait until Harry returned to get an idea as to how to go about resolving the issue.

When she had met him, she had been fascinated by his deep voice and his accent but like the other women in the neighborhood he kept her at arm's length and she knew little about him.

 **MEANWHILE NEXT DOOR**

Harry was sitting at a small table inside Julian's kitchen with the ice pack pressed against his face trying to ensure that the swelling would be minimal. His eyes wandered all over the kitchen as he was trying to understand why someone had finally defended him. He barely knew this neighbor and he had already noticed the abuse and had taken swift action.

Julian sat across the table from him with his hands behind his head, as he stared at the ceiling with a blank expression on his face. Harry was startled from his observations when he heard him speak softly.

"Is this the first time he has done this to you?"

Harry stilled at the question. He had been four years old when his relatives had started beating him and referring to him as a freak. The beatings had been consistent despite him doing most of the chores in the house, and nothing he had done had been good enough. Doing well in school had gotten him accused of cheating. His cousin had gotten into trouble many times but no matter what he did or even if he was in front of witnesses, he still ended up being blamed. He had wondered many times if there was something wrong with the world or just him as none of it made sense. He was nine years old and way too small for his age and no one noticed. He was very small from not being able to eat properly and he had never thought to seek help, even though he had realized that what was happening to him was wrong. His head started hurting him where the lightning shaped scar on his head was and he grabbed his forehead as the scar started throbbing painfully.

Julian jumped up and removed Harry's hand as he stared at the throbbing mass that rippled underneath the scar as he got nearer to it. He did not know what influenced him to do it as he placed his hand firmly around the scar and squeezed it hard. The scar emitted a piercing scream and exploded outwards as a thick black liquid shot out of it as Harry passed out in shock. When the liquid touched his hand it swiftly evaporated with a scream and a small face appeared with red eyes as it glared at him with a fearful expression before disappearing.

"OK then, that was weird and dare I say, even freaky," Julian muttered to himself.

He lifted Harry up and placed him on the couch and went to the bathroom to collect some alcohol and cotton swabs to wipe off the blood that had appeared after the scar had been exorcised. HE set about preparing breakfast as he waited for Harry to regain consciousness.

As he finally finished preparing an omelet with toast he heard a crack outside of his house and he walked to his door to investigate.

An old man with a long waist length beard, wearing what looked like a purple bathrobe burst through his door, pointed a short stick at him and muttered, "Stupefy." A red light hit him squarely in the chest as he blinked twice, stared down at his chest and then looked up at the crazy old man who looked astonished. The old man then panicked as Julian summoned his machetes to his hands. He grasped them tightly and started moving towards the old man who seeing this, started to panic and shot many more multi colored lights at him. He felt nothing as they hit him, then made a snap decision to avoid killing the intruder and dropped them to the floor. 'Dead men cannot answer questions after all,' he thought grimly to himself.

Julian grabbed the old man by his long beard with his left hand and used his right fist to hammer his fist into his stomach. The old man slumped over as the air rushed out of him and dropped the stick as Julian landed punches all over his body until he was dropped unceremoniously to the floor.

Julian snorted as he realized that the old fart had lost consciousness and landed a kick between his legs as a final memento. He remained unconscious, but his body shuddered as the blow landed.

He looked up and noticed that Vernon and Petunia were standing at his open front door, stunned and staring at the man lying unconscious on the floor of his living room. He glared at them and bluntly asked, "What the hell is going on and do you know who this weirdo is?"

Vernon looked at him and placed his hands spread apart palms up as a sign of non-aggression and started talking quickly. He told him a story of magic, of finding Petunia's nephew placed outside of his door in a basket years ago, the inability to understand how to deal with a magical child and their frustrations at having to bear the cost of feeding and clothing Harry. They had beat him early on and his magical outbursts had stopped. They had realized that when he was well fed and healthy, the outbursts were frequent, and they were often forced to witness strange things happening all around them. Household appliances would stop working and things in their house would change shape and changed to weird inexplicable colors. They had spent thousands of pounds to constantly repair the house and they had no way of reaching the wizarding world for help.

Harry had awoken during the beginning of their story and listened quietly to their recount of growing up with him. He gasped silently as he realized that he was apparently magical. He was filled with apathy, as he listened to their reasons for his mistreatment. He resolved to take control of his life and never allow anyone to mistreat him like that again. There was a slight golden glow around him after he quietly vowed this to himself. His chest throbbed and what he now realized was his magic sung to him with silent assurances.

Julian groaned to himself as he wondered if emigrating from Barbados had been worth all this hassle. He had studied history and mathematics at university and had come to England seeking a what he thought was a bright future in the teaching profession. His uncle was a long-time teacher in England and had sponsored him to come to England and ensured that he got a foot in the door for the job interview. He had impressed the board during the process and had been welcomed wholeheartedly by the students when he started.

He focused on applying knowledge versus just acquiring it to regurgitate it. He also encouraged them to explain things to one another during study sessions to ensure that they had a good grasp of the subjects. His belief was that if you can teach it to others then you have a better understanding of it. He sat down with them and taught them good study habits and why it was important to go over work even after that topic had already been completed. His students had outperformed the others in the same year level and he had finally been given the job permanently.

He was jarred from his thoughts when the old man on the ground started to stir. He eyed the old man on the ground balefully and kicked the stick away from him as he started to stir.

 **ALBUS POV**

Albus Dumbledore groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. He remembered hearing an alarm from the instruments monitoring #4 Privet Drive, and he had grabbed his wand and apparated there to check up on the status of Harry Potter. He had cast a location spell and after realizing that Harry was not at number four, he had cast the unlocking charm on the house his magical signature registered at and burst inside the house seeking to subdue whomever had him and rescue Harry. He had remembered sending out a stunning spell at the muggle he saw standing there and then being shocked after realizing that it did not affect him.

He panicked when he saw him summon two short swords from nowhere and had blasted him with a wide variety of spells that had not affected him in the least. He had almost sighed in relief when the young man dropped the swords, but the alternative was still painful as his sore body reminded him. He winced as his groin throbbed and he realized that he had been hit there as well. He stared up into three hostile faces and reached instinctively for his wand. He panicked slightly when he realized that it was out of his reach and prayed that he would be able to talk his way out of this situation.

 **JULIAN POV**

Julian glared at the old bastard that had broken into his home and attacked him, and even worse in his opinion was wearing an ugly purple bathrobe as if he had now stepped out of the shower. He smiled inwardly when he saw him reaching for his stick but kept his expression blank, as he awaited an explanation.

The old man identified himself as Albus Dumbledore and immediately demanded his wand be returned to him. After Julian manifested his two machetes the demands swiftly disappeared as he quickly started talking. When he was questioned as to his reasons for entering his house he talked all around the issue without giving a straight answer. He gave a vague response about getting an alarm that Harry was in danger. When questioned about why he had not aided Vernon and Petunia, he gave no real answers, and assured them that everything was under control and that it would all work out. He made no real promises and talked all out of his ass with vague answers and assurances. Julian sighed as he recognized the speech patterns of a career politician who specialized in long conversations with loads of bullshit dumped freely around and no real substance or answers.

Finally, Julian got tired of his obnoxious voice and slapped the two machetes together to quiet his blathering. He promised him that if he saw him back in the area without a good reason or without real answers that his reward would be much more generous than he had gotten this time. He allowed him to collect his wand as he referred to it as and made him leave his house and watched the old man drag himself outside to teleport away.

He turned to Vernon and Petunia and lambasted them, "There is never any reason to take out your frustrations and anger on a small child. Did you ever think that when he became an adult he may have decided to kill, hurt or maim your family as revenge for the treatment that you gave to him?"

They flinched and paled as they realized that his behavior today was already indicative of the fact that he had decided to rebel against their mistreatment. They looked at each other and shivered, wordlessly acknowledging that unless they had killed him they would have had to face a trained wizard who hated them had they continued their actions. They looked at the couch as Harry sat up, the dead look in his eyes when he looked at them caused their stomachs to clench in fear, as they saw that he actively despised them. They apologized profusely to him and backed away slowly and practically ran out the door to their home to avoid the baleful gaze he gave them.

Julian sighed and took up the cotton swabs and alcohol and tended silently to the slowly disappearing scar on Harry's forehead. The only sound that could be heard was the ticking of the clock as they were both lost in their thoughts. The stinging of the alcohol did not even register to Harry, as he went over everything that he had witnessed and heard. Julian was lost in thoughts as he tried to figure out why none of the magic had affected him.

Finally, Harry asked him, "Why do I feel numb even after I got the answer as to why they treated me like that? I hate them, yet I don't really care about them anymore now that I have answers as to why?

Julian walked to the armchair and sat down, he reclined in the chair and reached over to the coffee table to collect a notebook and a pen and tossed them to Harry.

"I will be talking a lot and much of what I say you may not understand right away or you may have questions about it. Make a note of what you hear me say and any questions you may have and ask me when I am finished. I don't like losing my thread of thought and I ask that you withhold any real questions to when I am finished."

Harry nodded with a serious expression on his face and opened the notebook and readied himself to take notes.

"Observe carefully, analyze wisely and then take action in a manner that you will least regret. Human beings are flawed creatures and are not easy to understand. Very few people will sacrifice to do something for someone else without expecting or demanding some reward in return. Emotions are a part of us all but should never be acted upon without giving thought to the consequences those actions could bring. The love of a parent or family and sometimes friends are some of the few times you will see people sacrificing for others without expectations of reward. Your family chose to take their fear and frustration out on you. What has happened cannot be changed but what you do in response to their actions now is up to you. I will not tell you to forgive them or what you should do, but to make a decision based on what you are comfortable with as a person, and to be aware of the consequences of any action you take."

Harry nodded to himself as he made notes according to what he understood. He underlined "Advice is useful but the choices I make I have to be comfortable with them."

Julian stared into the ceiling and continued speaking quietly.

"I believe in forgiveness but only when the person is truly repentant for their actions. We all make mistakes but only those who learn from their mistakes will truly mature and grow as individuals. I do not believe in forgetting what wrongs people have done against you, but in letting go of the anger and bitterness it brings about in you. These emotions negatively impact you in the long term if not dealt with properly. It is good to have knowledge, but it is better to know when and how to use that knowledge. Christians have a verse in their Bible that says, 'knowledge puffs up' and I have personally seen that this is true from my experiences. Figure out who you are and where you want to go and never let anyone, or anything stop you from achieving that which you are truly capable of. Real friends will encourage you to be the best you can be but beware of vampires whether they be emotional or otherwise. They will seek to take from you and will give nothing in return. Do not be afraid to mess up but seek to learn from when you do and see how you can do things better the next time. Education is a tool and what you use it for is up to you."

Julian paused and got up to get a glass of water to sooth his dry throat.

Harry stared at the notebook that he had been writing in and some of what Julian had said made sense, but other things had gone over his head. He shrugged and decided that he would do some research at the library to help him understand what he had missed.

Julian sat down across from Harry and passed him a tall, cold glass of water. Harry drank it slowly as he wondered what direction his life would take considering all that he had learned today.

Julian gazed at Harry out of the corner of his eye and noticed that his forehead scar was mostly gone but for a small mark. He looked up at the plaque over his fireplace with the phrase his grandmother had made him memorize and recite from when he was a young man just out of his diapers, ' _No weapon formed against me shall prosper_.'

She had prayed with him every night until she had passed away from a stroke five years later and he had kept on praying in memory of his granny who always ensured that she let him know that he was loved.

Julian reached over and shook Harry gently to bring him out his thoughts. He asked him to make notes of what he had learned today of his past and what he wanted to find out or understand that he did not yet know.

Harry looked at him pensively and nodded. The pen moved quickly over the page as he noted:

 _What is magic?_

 _What can I do with it and what are its limitations?_

 _What really happened to my parents?_

 _How will magic affect my life and will it be for good or bad?_

 _Did my parents leave an estate or some sort of information for me about my heritage?_

Julian glanced at his notes and nodded. "That is a good start and you don't need to get all of your answers right away. In the meantime, figure out what you want for yourself and what do you wish to accomplish with your life? There is no deadline with regards to that as you are still young but the more answers you have, the easier it is to chart out the path you will take. You can lie down on the couch and relax while I go and talk to your family."

Harry nodded and slowly plodded over to the couch and collapsed into it as his body now started demanding that he go to sleep.

Julian got up and walked through the front door to have a long conversation with Vernon and Petunia Dursley.


	2. Chapter 2

_I think this is where I profess to not being J K Rowling or any of the entities that control the Harry Potter franchise. I am writing this based on my exposure to many different fanfics over the years and the idiot that Harry is (in my opinion) inside the original plot._

 _Please note that Julian is meant to be a mentor and will have no romantic attraction or any otherwise to Harry. He will become an older brother/father figure to Harry and that will be all. The rating is for the cussing that Julian and Harry will be party to. I admit to not being an accomplished Englisharian even though it is my native language, and all grammatical mistakes are mine and not J K Rowling. This is obviously somewhat AU and more of an OC not a self-insert. The underlying theme in this story is that magic is all about intent and that there is balance within it that must be maintained. There will be time skips because I am lazy and do not plan on writing a journal of everyday life._

* * *

 **JULIAN POV**

Julian walked back to his three-bedroom home after talking to the Dursleys clutching the piece of parchment that they had received when they had found Harry on their doorstep. The parchment had glowed a dark grey when it was placed in his hand and the Dursleys had shivered and stood straighter after the light had faded.

He sighed to himself after it had happened, 'More strange shit to figure out.'

The conversation afterwards had been easier than he expected, and they had expressed no issue with better treatment of Harry going forward.

He stepped through his front door and called out for Harry when he did not see him still lying on the couch.

He walked through the front of the home to the kitchen and found him standing at the back door seemingly lost in thought as he stared at the greenhouse.

Harry jumped slightly as Julian placed a hand on his shoulder and pointed him towards a bench in the backyard beside the garden beds that he had recently started. Harry sat down and looked with fascination at the neatly cultivated garden before him.

* * *

 **HARRY POV**

Harry was overwhelmed as many thoughts passed through his head after the exciting events of the morning. He wondered which direction his life would now take and whether things would continue along this path that had opened before him. He got up and walked to the back door of the house and stared out at the green house and the garden laid out before him. The beds showed germinating seeds uniformly throughout them and he wondered just how much of this Julian had accomplished between working and the short time he had had since he moved in.

He was startled when he felt the hand placed lightly on his shoulder and had been startled to notice Julian standing beside him. He had learnt to be always aware of his surroundings due to the abuse and bullying that he had received so he surprised that he had let his guard down so easily.

He nodded to him and allowed himself to be guided toward the wooden bench beside the garden beds wondering what new information he would be given.

He listened raptly as Julian explained the piece of parchment and the grey light that it had emitted, the instant change in the Dursley's attitude and the assurance that any and all abuse would cease immediately.

He decided to withhold his judgement towards them and was reassured when Julian assured him that he would continue to monitor the situation to ensure that he remained safe from any retaliation towards him.

He was surprised at the comfortable silence that fell after Julian had finished speaking and asked the question that was burning him up since he saw the gardening work done.

"Why do you have so much garden cultivated and how did you get so much done in such a short time? Also why did you cover the beds in grass clippings?"

* * *

 **JULIAN POV**

Julian laughed heartily for a few seconds and looked at Harry with a very amused expression.

"That is a sorta long story and luckily for you it is a Saturday, so I can indulge you with it." He looked at Harry and sighed as the Dursleys popped into his head before he dismissed them.

"I garden as a form of relaxation and because it is a part of my upbringing. The grass clippings serve to protect the new sprouts from being damaged by excessive rainfall and also help the soil to retain water during hot dry periods." He laughed as he noticed the interested look that he received.

"Growing up in the Caribbean I lived with my grandmother and my cousins. Money was tight, and I learned early that relying on one form of income was not a good idea. My Ma's canteen was closed down after the sugar factory closed and she grew vegetables to supplement our diet, and to provide income before she found work as a maid and housekeeper. I was given my own garden bed and allowed to plant whatever I wished in it. I could also sell whatever I grew, if I assisted her with the rest of the garden. I woke up between five and six to water and weed the garden for many years till it became second nature to me. I did not like it at first but since then I have found that working the earth so early when outside was quiet and cool relaxed me and I grew to enjoy it over the years. I also learned to appreciate the convenience of having your own vegetables and herbs when I got older and learned to cook. I love to see the crops I planted grow and be harvested knowing that this is something I did, and no one can take that accomplishment away from me," he finished with a smile.

He smiled quietly to himself as he noted how Harry was quietly making notes in his book with a serious expression on his face.

"Besides that, do you know how hard it is to grow things on a large scale for commercial use without resorting to the use of chemicals and pesticides. Growing things in an easily controlled environment allows you to easily monitor and experiment with what works best for the individual crops and to me they just taste better. Plus, the English food just sucks when it comes to seasoning and it is hard to find the herbs that I am accustomed to using in my cooking here in England at reasonable prices."

Julian did not realize it then, but that discussion about agriculture would impact the future of the wizarding world in ways that he would never have suspected.

They sat there for a short time with both of them lost in their thoughts.

Eventually Julian got up and took him though the greenhouse for a tour. The greenhouse was fifteen feet in length and ten feet wide with a door on one side and an enclosed area like a mudroom after you opened the door. This area was five feet wide and was used to store tools and work clothes. The floor was concrete and covered by a thick rubber matting that was a rich navy blue in color. The ceiling was made of large panes of glass that allowed the sun to effectively reach all the plants within. He showed him the elevated beds that were used to make it easier to tend to and to be maintained at a consistent temperature without being impacted by the changing temperature of the soil as the seasons changed. He explained to Harry that this was mainly for lettuce, tomatoes and peppers that he was experimenting with to see the best soil conditions for growing. He pointed out to Harry the skylights in the roof that allowed for venting to keep temperatures constant during the summer and closed during the winter. The roof was set at a sixty-degree angle to allow the snow to slide off easily during the winter.

He smiled at the fascination showed on Harry's face as he wrapped up the tour and took him back outside and into the house.

His eyes hardened as he explained to Harry that he would accompany him back home to ensure that he was not attacked or threatened after the events so far of the morning. Harry's expression turned blank as he nodded and mentally prepared himself for the return to the jail that he considered his uncle's house to be.

* * *

 **HARRY POV**

Harry was silent as he walked beside Julian back to the house next door. He saw neighbors peering at them from behind curtains and some waved to Julian as they walked while giving him a frown when their eyes rested on him. He rolled his eyes as he ignored them and kept his head down as he walked. They cut around the house to the back door and found Petunia and Vernon sitting at the kitchen table nervously looking up at them when the door opened.

Vernon grabbed Petunia's hand as if for comfort and began formally apologizing for the mistreatment they had meted out to him. He vowed to never lay a hand upon him in anger ever again and that they would both pledged to treat him as a member of their family going forward. A dim glow surrounded him and Petunia as he made this vow, but neither of them noticed as they waited quietly for his response.

Harry took a deep breath, paused and opened his notebook and looked at his notes briefly and stared up into the air as he closed it. "I accept your apology but please understand that it will take a very long time before I will be able to forgive you for the abuse that I have suffered at your hands and at your son's as well." He grimaced as he finished speaking.

Julian gently squeezed his shoulder and smiled at him to reassure him.

He was escorted up the stairs to the fourth bedroom which had been cleaned out and was shocked to realize that they were actually going to give him his own room. It was not large, but it was far better than what he was accustomed to. He noted the single bed in the room and realized that he would actually be able to sleep on a bed of his own. He noted that he now had a dresser to himself but snorted when he remembered that the ragged castoffs of Dudley were all he had to his name. Petunia seemed to realize this and promised that they would go clothes shopping for him later that evening. He walked to the window as he looked out into the backyard and wondered if he could cultivate it like how Julian had done his.

He was roused from his musing as Julian cleared his throat. He looked at Julian who had moved beside him and noticed what had gained his interest.

"If you wish you can borrow some of my tools and I can walk you through and assist you with setting it up for cultivation once you get permission from one of them," Julian stated dryly.

He nodded to himself as he started trying to figure out just what he would plant and how could he turn his gardening into some form of income. He wanted to have his own money to spend on his own stuff and he was fascinated by eating what he could grow. He normally did not enjoy vegetables but somehow the eating his own produce appealed to him. He sat on the bed as Julian waved farewell to him and relaxed upon the flowery sheet that covered it. The room was slightly dusty, but he got up to open the window when he noticed. He saw Julian passing below his window and he shouted his thanks down to him for all he had done.

He saw him smile and was pleased to be invited over for lunch when he had gotten a bit of rest. He collapsed on his bed and fell into a deep sleep with his chest feeling lighter than it had ever been before.

* * *

 **JULIAN POV**

Julian walked briskly back to his home after he had given Harry the invitation and realized he needed to talk to his uncle. Perhaps he would be able to help him understand some of the weird shit that had happened to him today.

He sat down in his chair as the phone rang and his uncle answered after the phone had rang three times.

"Uncle Vic we need to talk, some weird shit has happened to me today and I am hoping that you can provide me with some answers."

He spoke at length with regards to the events of the day and his uncle listened without interruption. His uncle sighed loudly and told him that he would pass over in the afternoon and answer his questions as best as he could. He hung up the phone and went to grab some meat from the freezer as he felt a bit more lighthearted knowing that he would soon receive some answers.

* * *

 _I have written stories years ago and doing this again reminded me of just how much work it entails. My respect goes out to all those amateur writers out there who continue to churn out their material and my thanks as well._


	3. Chapter 3

_This chapter is where I attempt to answer the reasons as to why Julian can achieve what he did and to lay down my interpretation of what magic is and the history of the magic and the mundane worlds. This is the direction that I have decided to develop the plot in and I hope that my explanations answer the questions that I have raised._

* * *

 **HARRY POV**

Harry woke up and stretched languidly. He had never felt so relaxed and so peaceful in his short life before. He got up and grabbed a towel and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. When he finally finished he looked at the clock as he finished dressing and realized that it was about 11.30 am. He shrugged his shoulders and decided to head over to Julian since he had been invited over for lunch.

As he walked down the stairs his eyes met that of Petunia and she grimaced and lowered them quickly. He realized that this is when she would normally scream at him to prepare something for Dudley and them, but because of her vow she had no choice but to organize it herself.

She moved towards the phonebook to order in something for her family and left him alone. He muttered in her direction that he was going over to Julian for lunch. He walked through the door wearing a short grey pants that was a couple sizes too big, but he had it cinched tightly up to cover that and a large purple T-shirt that hung to mid-thigh on him. He grabbed the ratty old pair of flip flops that had been given to him and pressed them onto his feet as he headed through the door.

The walk next door was brief, and he knocked on the front door that was painted a Royal Blue, while he waited for it to open. The large double windows on either side of the door were open allowing the air to move through the house and he heard Julian moving furniture aside as he proceeded to open the door.

He was greeted with an eye warming smile and directed to follow him into the kitchen where he noticed some fish soaked in a bowl on the kitchen counter. The water inside was cloudy and he asked why with a curious expression on his face.

* * *

 **JULIAN POV**

He smiled as he explained, "the water is like that because I marinated it in vinegar and salt water. That is to tenderize the fish and to allow the seasoning I use to penetrate the flesh better."

Harry nodded his head as he processed the information. He looked at Julian and asked again, "what type of seasoning do you use besides salt and pepper?"

Julian grimaced as he placed the bowl in the sink, drained the bowl and washed off the fish.

"In the Caribbean we usually use a wet seasoning which we make from onions, thyme, scallions, garlic, sweet and hot peppers and other herbs crushed together along with some dry spices and insert it into the meat as well as coat the meat in it. We either leave it to marinate sometimes overnight or for however long we feel to do so. That is why I struggle with English food because my palate is accustomed to a stronger type of seasoning than what your country normally uses."

Harry watched in fascination as Julian chopped up the potatoes after he had washed them and seasoned them a dry spice mixture which he recognized salt and black pepper but not the rest. They were placed in a frying pan that was on the stove and the sizzling noise as well as the strong aroma that blessed his nose caused his stomach to start growling.

Julian laughed merrily as he heard Harry's stomach growl and pointed him to the upper kitchen cupboard to set out the table and directed him to prepare a salad from cucumbers, tomatoes and lettuce in a bowl that he gave him. He noticed how easily Harry prepared it, with a skill that no one his age should have but decided not to open old wounds investigating it. He set the potatoes to cool on a tissue covered plate as he placed the fish into the pan and allowed it to cook briefly on both sides before removing it. The fish was sliced thinly into fillets and he did not wish to overcook it. He set it to cool as well and placed everything on a platter that was on the middle of the kitchen table. He watched and laughed to himself as Harry tried the fried potatoes and the fish. The expression on his face was thoughtful as he processed his first bit of Caribbean seasoned food. The pepper surprisingly seemed to be a hit for him as he dunked everything in hot sauce after he tried it for the first time.

The conversation flowed easily, and he was happy to note that Harry was now interested in listening and learning about different parts of the world. He also seemed curious about the different ways that people ate and prepared their food and their agriculture as well. He entertained him with his childhood stories of flying kites and the exploration of the gullies when those kites popped as well as the many near misses he had climbing trees to retrieve them. He pointed out that it was only as an adult did he realize just how much risks and danger he had placed himself in pursuing pieces of plastic, paper and cloth as a child.

He paused, and his face took on a very serious expression, "Harry I want you to know that if you ever need someone to talk to I am here for you. I will listen to you and guide you as best I can but ultimately, I want you to choose whatever direction that you are comfortable with. I may not agree with it, but I want you to know that if you understand and are willing to accept the consequences attached to that decision I will support you. That does not mean that you should seek to hurt people unnecessarily but to understand that you should treat others the way you want to be treated. The other point I will make is that 'Do not cast your pearls before swine.'

He laughed at the incredulous expression on Harry face as he mouthed pearls and swine to himself.

"The phrase comes from a bible verse in the book of Matthew. The meaning that I took from it is that never give anything valuable to people who cannot appreciate it. It can be your time, friendship or your love. A pig is only interested in eating and satisfying its bodily demands, so it has no interest in jewelry or anything that we humans determine to be valuable from our perspective. It is an extreme analogy to make a point which is why I love it so much."

He smiled as he noted how harry whipped out his notebook and started writing furiously in it. At this rate the notebook would be filled out before a month was up. He told Harry that his uncle was coming over later in the afternoon to give him some more information. When he got the information, he would update Harry with the information that pertained to him.

Harry got up to return next door as he noted that it was nearing 1.00 pm and Petunia had told him that he was going clothes shopping with her to update his wardrobe. Julian told him not to worry about the dishes that he would deal with them. Harry thanked him as he got up and walked to the door.

* * *

 **HARRY POV**

Harry waved goodbye to Julian as he closed the door behind him. He read back through his notebook as he walked along the sidewalk. He ducked as he felt something coming at his head. He was not surprised to see Dudley falling as he overbalanced when his punch missed.

He noted that Dudley's face turned red as he seemed determined to make him pay for his fall. He snorted and walked into the house curious as to how his 'family' would deal with the matter. Dudley burst through the door shouting about how the freak had pushed him down and he was surprised to see neither of his parents raise a hand or threaten the freak. Instead his mother raised an eyebrow and let him know that she had seen the whole thing through the window. She then proceeded to grab his ear and harshly scolded him that if she ever found out that he assaulted or attempted to assault anyone like that again he would be harshly punished.

Dudley stared at her in pain, shock and fear as his ear was burning and he had never ever been punished for anything up to that point.

Harry was shocked as he never expected that something like this would have happened so quickly. He pinched himself in shock as he found it difficult to believe that his aunt was capable of being reasonable of anything but cruel to him. His uncle stared at his son disappointedly as it hit home to him how much they had failed their offspring if he exhibited these behaviors so openly. Vernon sighed as he realized that he had a lot of work to do to correct his mistakes.

Harry jumped when he noticed Petunia standing in front of him waving to catch his attention. She sighed as she told him to get in the car while she got her purse. She turned to her husband and told him to talk to Dudley while she took Harry shopping.

He stared through the window lost in thought as his aunt drove through the streets on her way to a clothing store to outfit him.

* * *

 **A FEW HOURS LATER**

He returned home later that evening tired and hoping never to have to go shopping again. They had gone from store to store and it had seemed interesting at first but eventually he lost interest. You can only try on so many clothes before it loses its appeal. He had ended up with ten T shirts, seven short pants for home wear, several pairs of socks for all occasions, a pair of new school shoes, a pair of trainers for exercise and games at school and a pair of dress shoes for special occasions. The less he said about the dressy clothes for special occasions the better, as he shuddered at the memory of all the clothes he had had to try on.

When he walked through the door he was surprised to see Dudley look at him with a slightly defiant expression and bite out an apology for lying and attacking him. He shrugged, nodded and took his clothes up to his room.

Petunia followed him and showed him how to properly fold and put away his clothes. He noted that it was now approaching 5.00 pm and heard his name being called.

He walked slowly downstairs and was surprised to see Julian and a large man that seemed to dwarf him standing beside him. He noted that the man had his hair cut short and that he was slightly darker than Julian and about a foot taller. He had a thick moustache, neatly trimmed beard and thick dark eyebrows. His eyes were brown, and he looked impassively around the house as he noted the layout.

He gave off a stern air and he seemed to radiate a sense of strength and power. Harry gulped as he noted that the man's arms were thicker than his legs. He vowed never to piss off this man.

* * *

 **JULIAN POV**

Julian kept his face blank as he laughed inside his head at the expressions of the Dursley's family as they met his uncle. He noted with a smile how Harry gulped when he observed Uncle Vic.

"This is my uncle Aaron Oscar. He is here to help you better understand exactly what happened with Harry and what that means for you."

Vernon led them into the sitting room and everyone made themselves comfortable before they turned to look at uncle Vic.

His uncle's deep voice rumbled as he launched into a truncated explanation of magic.

"The Creator centuries ago had gifted some humans with power in response to the turmoil that existed in the human world through conflict. What we know as magic was gifted centuries ago as an ability for some humans to master their will and to exert that influence into the world around them. Initially they set out to help others and to improve the overall society. In Europe they became healers, skilled tradesmen and gifted farmers using these talents and even developed new ways of dealing with metals. This ability was passed down genetically to their children and their numbers grew over time. Over time as these individuals continued to develop these abilities some of them began to see themselves as better than those around them and believed that this meant that they had the right to rule and dominate those around them. These gifts allowed many of them to become wealthy and established themselves as elite members of society. I will point out that not all of them was corrupt initially because of their gifts.

With the expansion of the influence of the Catholic church some of the priests started to classify these individuals as witches and wizards to counteract their influence. They saw them as threats against their influence and control of the people. Using selected verses from the bible they whipped up the masses against them which was easy, due to the arrogance and cruelty that some of them had started to mete out against those that opposed them and jealousy of their wealth and influence. The priests were also able to do this as the clergy controlled access to the bible and many of the population were not educated, nor did they have independent access to the translated bible on their own.

This led to persecution from both sides of the conflict as they developed new ways of killing and hurting each other."

He paused and drank a large glass of water that appeared suddenly before him, then he continued his story.

This eventually resulted in the two separating as the sheer numbers of the normal members of the society started to overwhelm the gifted as they referred to themselves. Eventually they decided to rename themselves witches and wizards over the years to mock the priests that had stirred up the people against them. This was all occurring by the end of the third century and the early societies did not have many ways to protect and pass on their history. Literacy was not common and family histories were mainly passed down through stories and songs.

This meant that the true history of wizards and witches became lost to them as well. They eventually forgot their true origins and began to see themselves as superior and separate to normal humans in every way. Whether the loss of this part of their history and origin was done deliberately of happened accidentally we will never really know. Over the years they continued to attempt to take control and manipulate our society when they had amassed their strength and consolidated themselves. This led to a lot of hidden conflicts which resulted in witch hunting and burnings happening over time. The information became more twisted and warped over time until they finally established the Statute of Secrecy with the Catholic church and promised to maintain and hide their society away from ours without unnecessary conflict in return for the church not influencing the public's hate against them. They still interacted for trade but kept their gifts hidden from any who were not aware of them.

Over time their bodies developed and changed to harness more effectively harness their energy and they developed spells and techniques which they passed down through their families. The separation from our society meant that out developments diverged as they used their 'magic' to power, build and protect their societies. They developed traditions, spells and rituals and became stagnant comparatively as they believed themselves superior to us savages. Their use of their energy started to impact the very environment around them as plants and animals mutated and came to harness this same magic in different ways.

Uncle Vic paused as he noted the befuddled expressions on their faces. He continued his story as there was still more information to give them.

"Some of these wizards convinced the wealthier members of the society at that time to seek out and to explore China, India and Africa in search of gold, spices, and to spread the European version of religion to the uneducated masses. They used their magic to influence those who could not be persuaded which eventually saw the exploration led by Portugal at first, then Spain and the rest of the European countries following in quick succession. All of this was possible at the time due to the diseases and plaques that had decimated large portions of the society. The hidden conflicts had led to large losses of life as curses were spread throughout the society and it impacted agriculture and health."

Harry's hands flew furiously as he wrote page after page in his notebook.

Julian smirked as he noted the stunned expressions on the Dursleys faces as their world was rocked with the information that they were receiving. He wiped his face blank as his uncle's heavy stare landed on him.

Vic smiled to himself as he noted to himself that he still had it and continued his story.

When they reached Africa, these wizards and mundanes were shocked at the civilizations that they found there, and their eyes swelled with greed at the gold and knowledge that they were exposed to. They established trade and were met with friendly people who had focused more on maintaining harmony with the land and their people. Their 'wizards' had focused more on healing and protection for their people. They traded information and knowledge freely not suspecting the hidden motives of the European wizards.

They sent people with them back to Europe to be educated in the European form of magic and never realized their true intent. When they finally realized the evil intent of the Europeans they were caught unprepared and unable to respond against the overwhelming greed and lust for the gold and power that their land represented to them. The European wizards enacted a ritual upon the captured African wizards and attempted to curse them into subservience to them and to make them and their descendants dependent upon their new master's magic to survive.

The results of this ritual brought about house elves, which shrunk the bodies and became ugly caricatures of the wizards themselves. These new creatures lost the memories of their previous existence and were naked to remind the European wizards of their disgusting act. Their original intent to create magical slaves failed spectacularly as they had intended to use them for pleasure as well. Magic itself countered that by forcing the ritual to alter their bodies to prevent it and that any mistreatment or abuse of these new creatures would reduce fertility and prosperity in the family lines of anyone who partook in it. The African wizards had effectively died because of the ritual and their bodies had been infused with the magical intent which shaped the appearance of the new creatures.

The remaining African wizards retreated inland as much as possible and rallied their people against them, but the superior weapons and military tactics proved difficult to overcome. The history that we know of is recorded by the victors and the brutality and evil actions would never paint these countries in a positive light. As a result, the people of Africa and the New World were labelled as savages, heathens and cannibals to justify the actions taken against them. It can also be noted that the mundane or normal humans were largely unaware of most of the magic user's actions and rituals.

The atrocities and evils committed resulted in the magic present in the area creating animals like the Nundu, which is a magical cat that grows extremely large and its breath will spread diseases and plagues. This and many other creatures evolved due to the suffering caused in these countries that were pillaged and destroyed. Some of the reptiles mutated into dragons and scorpions became manticores. The list continued on either side as the intent of the magic influenced the development and the evolution of the various species.

Now it must be noted that the Creator noted that the gifts he had given the humans had been misused but what He has given cannot be taken back. He had promised to not take personal action in the human world, so he had gifted sentience to magic and created a gift to counter harmful intent from magic. The actions of the Europeans therefore led to the gift of anti-magic in humans as well. This only started to occur after the pillaging of Africa and the New World. These individuals cannot be harmed by magic and anything of magical origin. They can also negate any harmful magic or magic used with evil or inappropriate intent. Any actions taken against them influenced by magic will also fail of be derailed. These people can also use their ability to hold you to your word and you will have no choice but to follow through on any vows made to them. These vows cannot be harmful or dangerous to the life and well-being of whomever makes them. They cannot harm those that do not attack them, but any action taken against them removes that restriction."

He stopped speaking and leaned back in his chair to with his fingers steepled as he waited for questions to flow.

Julian smirked as he noted that his uncle did not speak of the fact that their ability to use intent was the same as the original 'wizards' but devoted more to practical use and much more limited in scope.

He noted Harry's questioning gaze and shook his head to indicate that any questions he had could be asked privately and not here.

Vernon was in shock as he attempted to process all the information that he had received. He asked haltingly, "Does this mean that anyone can develop their will as well and why did the Creator not intervene to prevent the actions of those who had misused the gift granted to them?"

Uncle Vic's gaze was heavy as it landed on Vernon and Vernon shrunk before his gaze.

"Yes and No. Many humans among us are capable of so much and achieve great things once they make up their minds and focus firmly upon the task they set out before them. If you train your will and continue to exercise it superhuman things can be achieved but few people among us have the strength of character to pursue dreams and aspirations in a sole minded way like that.

What the Creator has given he will never take back. I believe that the Creator knew the directions human would take their gifts in but choose to impart the gift for their own reason. How you use your gift is up to you but the consequences of misuse of that gift will be placed upon you and any of your offspring who do not turn away from the path that you have taken. Wizards also have a genetic predisposition to using their wills and their internal energy to influence it but if they are met with someone of equal and opposing wills they cannot overpower them. This does not mean that they cannot harm you, but it means that setting your mind against their intent weakens their ability to impact you."

He paused and continued his answer.

"The other issue that remains is as their society shrunk over time, they devolved as they focused more on their magic and neglected training their bodies and their minds. The lack of genetic diversity within their hidden communities also resulted in their offspring not always receiving the gift of magic being passed down as they strove to keep their magic pure from us filthy savages.

They also discriminated within the community against those they considered to be inferior or weaker than them. They believed that maintaining their pure bloodlines meant that their magic remained superior and they also cast out or mistreated their magicless offspring as well.

Magic is a recessive gene and must be passed down from both parents, but if the relationship is too close then magic itself will act and remove the gift. These offspring still carry the gene for magic, but it will be dormant to prevent the continuation of incest and to diversify the population. These individuals are referred to squibs and if magic detects that they are no longer closely related then their offspring can inherit the magical gene. When the relationship between the parents is too close then fertility is drastically reduced to discourage and to discontinue those relationships.

* * *

Petunia gazed off into the roof as she realized that she could have been magical if not for the roll of the dice

during her conception. She sighed as she continued to contemplate the overload of information that had been shared with them.

* * *

Dudley did not remember half of everything that he had heard but he understood magic and anti-magic. He was very intimidated by the large man telling the story and realized that dealing with his freak of a cousin would need to be reevaluated going forward.

* * *

Vernon sat there with his eyes closed and going over everything that he had heard mentally. He remembered the grayish light that had been given off when Julian had touched the letter written on parchment when they received Harry on their doorstep. He realized that there was probably some sort of magic placed upon it that influenced his and his family's behavior. His mind went into overdrive as he realized that someone had manipulated him without his knowledge and he resolved never to allow anyone to exert that influence over him again.

* * *

Julian rose from his chair as his uncle stood up and got their attention by clearing his throat loudly.

"If you have any more questions my uncle will be staying with me over the weekend and will answer them as best as he can."

He ruffled Harry's hair and bid them a good night as he followed his uncle through the door. He left behind him a thoroughly overwhelmed household who struggled to their feet and retreated to their rooms and their thoughts.

 _Will cut it off there for now and I hope it provides a rational explanation for what has occurred so far._


	4. Chapter 4

_I thank everyone who took the time to read my story all and who continue to do so. I like fanfiction because it allows an individual to exert their own ideas and influence, to shape or change the directions of stories that they have read to include their perspective, or better address some of the injustices they see coming to pass in the story. I have read hundreds of different authors and I want to thank each of everyone who takes the time to share their imagination with us and continue to entertain us with their talents. It is not easy opening yourself up to criticism and critique, so I thank all of you._

 _It is easy to paint yourself into a corner when you conceive a plot and as the story is transferred into reality, things that make sense in your mind do not always hold up well under scrutiny. The direction I have taken in explaining magic is not one that I can remember seeing before, but certain aspects have already been done. It is difficult to be completely original especially when you have been exposed to thousands of different stories and ideas._

* * *

 **HARRY POV**

Harry sat up in his bed feeling well rested. It had taken him a long time to fall asleep after mentally going over the many questions that had arisen in his mind after listening to Julian's uncle's explanation last night. He rolled his feet off the bed and looked out through the window. The sky was a dark gray and gradually lightening up. He stretched languidly and noticed Julian working in his backyard and saw him look up to his window and wave at him.

He looked at the clock and noticed it was just after 5.00 am. He rushed to put on some of Dudley's old clothes, grabbed a pair of old shoes and rushed through the door to help Julian in his garden. When he arrived there panting slightly Julian glanced up at him and motioned to him to join him. Julian stood up and walked towards the greenhouse. He showed him some immature shallot bulbs in a pot and demonstrated to him how to place them into the soil.

They were both silent as they placed them in the elevated trays and spread a thin layer of a rich dark and smelly soil mix over them. Harry looked at Julian for an explanation of the soil mixture and was told it was a mixture of soil, plant and grass clipping with dried manure mixed together to provide nutrients for the bulbs to grow. Harry shrugged and continued to toil away until they had filled three of the trays with the bulbs.

Harry heard Julian clear his throat and looked over at him. He noted Julian incline his head in the universal signal to follow me. He was led to the outside pipe and washed up his hands.

Julian said to him with a smile, "By the way my uncle's nickname is Vic because when he was younger he always overcame any challenge he set himself to. He was called Victor initially, but it was shortened to Vic eventually.

Harry shrugged his shoulders in acceptance. Looking at Vic there had seemed to be nothing he could not overcome with the air of strength he exuded. As he walked into the kitchen he noticed Vic moving around the kitchen whipping up breakfast. Going by the smell, whatever he was fixing up was going to be epic.

He saw Vic look over and notice them and asked what type of omelette Harry would like.

Harry shrugged and said "Whatever type you make. I am cool with anything edible at this point."

Vic gave a deep rumbling belly laugh in return and nodded. Harry noted some batter inside a bowl and asked Julian, "What is that he is making? Is it pancakes?"

Julian looked at him and smiled, "Nah. That is bakes which is essentially fried dough. It's just flour, sugar, baking powder and some spices with a little butter mixed together. You will love it, trust me."

Harry nodded and sat down with Julian at the counter and watched Vic moving around in the kitchen until a plate crammed with bakes and a thick omelette was placed before him. He bit into the bake and instantly fell in love with the taste. The bake was crunchy on the outside, the spices enhanced the taste and it melted in his mouth. He had thought it was too much food initially but was surprised to see how quickly it disappeared as he ate.

He hummed in contentment before he got up and walked over to the sink and to wash his dishes. He heard Julian call to him to meet them in the living room when he was finished, as Uncle Vic would be providing more information to him and answering any questions that he had.

Harry shouted out an affirmative answer and placed the cleaned dishes in the rack to dry, then dried his hands with a paper towel. He walked to the living room to sit down in the armchair across from uncle Vic and waited for him to start.

* * *

 **UNCLE VIC POV**

Vic leaned back in his chair and looked impassively at Harry. He gave a long look at the ceiling seemingly fascinated by something he saw there and sighed loudly before he started his narrative.

"What I told you family last night was a very edited version of the history of magic. It glossed over a lot of things and deliberately did not go into too much detail with some respect to other areas of information."

He noticed Harry's shoulders become less tense after he said that, and noted to himself that the boy was very observant and intelligent as well.

He continued with his explanation.

"The part that concerns you as a magic user is this particular bit. The evolution of the wizards to harness the energy within their bodies caused some deviations from the original gift. Originally the gift allowed you to exert your will into the world around you and was shaped by the mind of the individual and would manifest in various ways. Some people used the gift to specialize in their trades or their talents and some used it to boost their crop production or to heal. It was limited by the scope of your imagination, the strength of your mind and could not be used to directly injure or influence other humans. It used the energy of the environment to do these things. It eventually became integrated into the genetic makeup of the people who were given the gift and was passed on down to their offspring.

The lack of written records and persons not properly understanding their new powers caused the information passed down to become skewed over time and it became a warped version of the truth. It was a rough existence back in those times and it took a few generations, before efforts were seriously made to store and record information properly. The people who received the gifts were not always literate and it took the presence of wealth for many of them to become more educated."

He noted Harry had summoned his notebook subconsciously and was making notes, as he listened fascinated, before him.

Some of these families as they grew, experimented with their powers and started to display pride and arrogance with their increasing wealth and rise in station, and began looking down upon those who did not have the gift or wealth. This was not too widespread initially however and began to be more of an issue as generations of family members developed and added to the specializations and skill-sets of their families. Most of the initial discoveries and technologies were developed by these families which saw their wealth and influence grow as a result.

They began to experiment with new ways of using their powers and some of them started using words to direct the energy within them. This led to the development of spells and saw them utilizing their magic, as they had started to name it, in a universal manner. They experimented over time and developed ways to use their magic in their buildings, for protection and for healing. One family noticed some of their children using their magic to change pieces of wood into toys and move them around and this led to the development of what is now called transfiguration and charms. These new skills were guarded jealously at first but began to be shared among their communities when they started to face persecution by the general populace at the urging of the church. The original skills and talents that their families had developed though, they ensured were kept private from the wider community and led to what is called family magic.

This experimentation and growth continued for a few centuries with everyone living mostly in harmony without many major issues or conflict. I must point out here that human beings have great capacity for evil and in the opposite direction for good. The rise in the wealth and the influence of the families with magic started to become a source of contention within some of the communities and villages, which led to minor conflicts arising. The spreading influence of the church also contributed as some of the village priests were envious of the power and control that these families wielded. Other priests however had no issue working with these families for the benefit of the community.

The rising conflicts forced many of the families to develop ways of utilizing their magic to cause harm to their enemies and to defeat them, but it proved difficult. The first ritual was created as a result and it was used to revoke the inability of magic to cause harm to human beings. The wizard responsible had found his family slaughtered and his home burnt to the ground. Because of this brutal attack he had used his anger, hatred and all the pain he felt to force his magic to be able to kill, torture and maim his enemies. This is what led to what is now termed dark magic, which is always fueled by the darker emotions.

Both sides of the conflict committed many atrocities against each other and the fighting led to the development of many new weapons and ways to kill one another. Wizards began to use rituals and curses to attack villages and to cause disease and misfortune. An examination of the history from the mundane side will show the impact of the diseases but will speculate as to the origins of them.

He lay back and went silent as he watched Harry go over the information in his head. He noticed with wry amusement how he seemed to struggle over which question he wanted to ask first and waited for him to speak.

"How do you know all of this when you said that most of the wizards did not record the information initially?" Harry asked with his forehead scrunched up in thought.

Vic laughed merrily before he answered him. "The answer was hinted at already but not directly. The people who received the gift went on to educate themselves and the ones responsible for education were mainly the church at that point in time. The members of the clergy were responsible for educating the newly elevated people and, they were sought out for council by them as well. They compiled and recorded the information as well as what they observed for themselves. They viewed these gifted as modern-day prophets and treated them with a great deal of respect.

The friction between the wizards and the mundane parts of the society eventually led to a gap opening between them and the wizards started to keep their own records and became more secretive as they developed their skills. The church continued to record information but with little help from the newly educated wizards.

Some of the priests grew angry at what they viewed as disrespect and ingratitude by the wizards and began to conspire against them to bring them down a peg or two. This led to a more fractured relationship and accusations began to flow between both sides. Fearing the direction that this conflict was taking some of the priests and wizards made plans secretly to stay out of any future conflict, and to stay neutral regardless of whatever direction it took. They became known as the 'Neutrum Societatis Scientia.' The English translation is Knowledge is Neutral Society. They believed that knowledge should be used for the betterment of society wherever possible.

The priests left the church slowly over time and passed the information down through their families. The wizards passed on information from their side but concentrated mainly on significant events and new discoveries of magic. It was decided to only pass on this information to select members of their families only after they demonstrated a mindset that matched that of the society itself. It was also allowed to bring in promising individuals who were willing to embrace the teachings and beliefs of the society.

I was approached when I migrated to England and have been a member for almost twenty years now. Julian has expressed interest in joining as he wants to be able to help and protect you after seeing all that happened to you since he has met you. "

He noted the look of teary gratitude that Harry threw quickly at Julian and smiled. "I will provide information for you to study about the magical society that you are a part of and provide Julian with any information which pertains to you specifically. The information we have gathered over the centuries attempts to be unbiased and focuses mostly on the historical aspect. It will aid you in understanding the development and deterioration of the relationship between the two societies and towards understanding your origins and that of the wider magical world."

* * *

 **HARRY POV**

Harry fought back tears as he realized just how much Julian was going out of his way to look out for him without asking anything in return for this help. He vowed to himself that he would always treasure the people in his life who demonstrated this compassion and hoped that someday he would be able to do this for others as well. He felt Julian squeeze his shoulder as he walked past him and left him to his thoughts as he sat there. He zoned out as his mind played the information over and over in his head and he started making notes on what things he wished to study later.

* * *

 _How do I strengthen my magic and my will?_

 _What things can I do to earn an income, and can I use my magic in agriculture?_

 _What is the real difference between my magic and my will?_

 _How will I find time to do all of what I want to do when it comes to learning?_

* * *

The last question he underlined and got up to go and asked Julian for any tips when he noticed Vic laying down across from him. He jumped reflexively in surprise and felt sheepish as he noticed the grin on his face.

He addressed the query to him as he sensed that he would be able to help him. He straightened his back subconsciously as Vic gave him an appraising look. He waited patiently with his pen poised for a response with an expectant look.

Vic seemed to have seen what he was looking for as he answered Harry with a calm expression.

"Time management is a key part of successful people's lives. Time is a finite resource and you should use it wisely. Make a timetable and budget your time wisely. Examine yourself and know your weaknesses and your strengths. What do you really want? What is your objective? What do you enjoy doing? These are all questions you can ask yourself to help you in making decisions. Set clear and achievable goals. Set aside time for relaxation and fun because life can be incredibly frustrating and stressful sometimes. What are you willing to sacrifice in the short term and what are your long-term goals? And last but not least, recognize and respect your limits and your flaws. The worst person to lie to is yourself because you will eventually undermine yourself."

Harry looked him in the eye boldly and asked him the question that was eating away at him since this had all started.

"Why do all of this? Why did Julian help me so easily and you as well?"

He noticed the sad look that Vic gave him and stiffened his shoulders as he awaited the response.

"Because you needed help. No one should be subjected to abuse. You are still a child and deserve to be protected not hurt. You should and can be disciplined, but never abused. It is a part of our upbringing and is partly culture and partly religious reasoning. Do unto others the way you would have them do unto you which is known worldwide as the golden rule. In the Caribbean community we grew up in, we always strove to help our neighbors. You never know when you may need help so never be needlessly cruel to those around you."

Harry relaxed slightly after hearing this and resolved to travel the world when he grew older to see more of the communities and culture around the world. He was very glad the way they shared the information with him. Most adults he had come across talked down to him and treated him like a well-trained animal when he showed his intelligence and intellect. Julian and his uncle Vic treated him with respect and did not treat him like a child. They believed in his intelligence and were willing to answer any questions he asked willingly and in detail.

He went outside with them to the back yard and spent the rest of the morning just having fun conversations on a variety of topics. They regaled him with stories of them growing up in the Caribbean. He learnt of road tennis, taped ball cricket, football, fruit raids and all-day exploration of the countryside surrounding them.

He listened to the stories of them getting their siblings into trouble and vice versa and the lashes that they often received for it. He felt relaxed and laughed openly at the way how the stories unfolded as he listened.

Julian told him of the entire set of neighborhood children going to the sea and staying until the sun started to set. The demolition of mango and other fruit trees when they were in season because they were too hungry to wait until they got home for something to eat.

He laughed as he learnt how Julian and his cousins would sneak around and raid dunks trees (Chinese dates), ackee trees, golden apples and suck sugar cane until the juice soaked their clothes.

They would even sit around for brief periods of silence before another story would begin with another interesting tale of things that he had never heard about or experienced in his short time on Earth.

They eventually got up and ate a late lunch of cheese and tuna sandwiches which they washed down with lemonade.

Today was turning out to be the best day of his life so far and he was glowing with happiness.

Everyone looked up when they heard a knock on the door and Julian got up to answer it. He invited the persons inside and Harry was surprised to see Vernon walk in with a sheepish expression on his face followed by a quiet Petunia and silent Dudley.

He looked at Julian who grimaced at him and invited them to sit. Everyone took a seat in the living room and the Dursley family took a seat on the couch. They sat close together as if seeking strength from each other's presence.

* * *

Vernon looked at Petunia as he held her hand and spoke softly but with a steady voice as he turned to look at Harry with a serious expression on his face.

"I want to apologize for all of the wrong that my family had done to you over the years. I will not put the blame solely on whatever form on magic that was cast upon us, because some of it had to come from us as well. I hope that you one day can reach a place where you no longer hate us for what we did. I do not like the idea of being under someone else's control and I hate our actions because of that loss of control."

* * *

Harry was unsure how to respond to this statement and so he just nodded his head in silence.

Vic gave Vernon a blank look and said nothing. Julian just snorted and muttered, "Time will tell if your words are just that, but your actions will ultimately be the most important testimony you have."

Vernon nodded in head stiffly as there was really nothing that he could say to argue against that.

* * *

Vic cleared his throat to capture everyone's attention as he decided to give the last bit of information to on the difference between magic and the original gift of will power or psychic abilities.

"What I have not done so far is to clarify the difference between will power and magic. Will power is basically conjuring up an idea or an object with your mind and bringing that into reality. Magic is the manipulation of the inner energy to impact the world around you whereas will power uses the energy present in the environment to do this.

Most of what is termed accidental magic in young children is a combination of magic and will power acting together. Great things, almost godlike things can be achieved when will power and magic work together, however, these actions are subject to being measured for motive and balance. Magic is guided by intent and visualization and is limited by the energy capacity of the person wielding it.

Because of the centuries of conflict within the magical world and against the mundane world they have refined their magical abilities for combat and everyday use. As a normal human I advise you not to be hit by their magic when you see it coming but magics that attempt to control or influence you can be overcome by strengthening your mind and your will power."

Vernon snapped his head up as did Harry when they heard this part.

Vic raised a hand to stop any questions as he was already planning on answering the unasked question.

"To strengthen your mind and to increase your will are simple and difficult at the same time. It is not an overnight task and requires you to put in a lot of work consistently over time. Here are some of the things you can do:

 _A healthy mind equals a healthy body so eat a well-balanced diet and eliminate too much fatty foods._

 _Find a hobby that you enjoy and start doing it._

 _Exercise regularly preferably by doing something you enjoy like boxing, swimming, dancing etc._

 _Use your mind to solve problems or do something mentally challenging._

 _Choose a quote or phrase you find appealing and uplifting, then memorize and repeat it daily._

 _Identify areas of stress or problems and address them before they become overwhelming._

 _Meditation helps. Find a method that works for you or use a task to achieve similar results._

 _Sleep matters. Sleep allows your mind to rest and recover so ensure you sleep well._

Vic looked over at Julian who was looking at him with an amused expression. He laughed as he confirmed Julian's unasked question. "Yes, that is why you were given the garden bed and why granny prayed with you, along with that quote she had you repeat every night as a child. Idle hands are the devil's playground after all."

* * *

Vernon looked over at his wife and his son and resolved to find activities that they could do as a family. He shuddered slightly as he thought about changing up his diet but slumped resignedly when he realized that sacrifices needed to be made sometimes.

Petunia looked at her husband and thought about what she enjoyed doing and what she could concentrate on. Her eyes lit up as she saw Julian's hedges through the window. She had always wanted to have the best garden in the neighborhood and it was something she had enjoyed as a young woman, so this was a path for her as a hobby.

Dudley had tuned out a lot of what had been said but boxing had garnered his attention. He had always wanted to be a champion boxer, maybe even a world champion. He decided then and there that this was his path.

* * *

Harry looked around the room as he placed down his notebook. He felt a lot more optimistic and comfortable after everything that had happened in such a short space of time and was a lot more confident with regards to his future. He would evaluate the Dursley family regarding their apologies and see whether they were truly serious or just putting on a good show for an audience.

He decided to ask now with regards to obtaining permission for the back garden in front of everyone, to see if that would make the request easier.

Vernon was surprised about the request and asked to see Julian's garden before he responded. He was stunned to see the extensive work that Julian had done in such a short space of time and agreed to allow Harry to set up something similar in their back yard.

He gathered his family and gave their farewells and thanks, for all the information before they left through the front door.

* * *

Harry remained to continue chatting with Julian and his uncle who once again began joking with each other and continuing with many more stories of early life in Barbados.

When Harry looked up and noticed the failing light he was surprised that so much time had passed. Vic got up and walked to his car and returned with what looked like a ring binder.

He handed it to Harry and told him to open it. Harry shrugged and did so but saw nothing but an empty binder when he did so. The binder itself appeared to be made of wood with three thick metal rings holding it together.

Vic pointed to the triangle printed on the inside of the folder and to press his thumb against it while thinking of a question he wanted answered.

Harry closed his eyes and thought of the Potter family. When he opened them, he saw the other wooden side of the folder was now displaying information like a television screen and the Potter family tree was laid out before him.

Harry was sitting there with the tears in his eyes and rushed over and grabbed Vic tightly with a hug to show his gratitude. Vic smiled and patted him on the back.

He spoke gentle words of reassurance as he rubbed Harry's back, who finally let the tears flow as he sobbed openly.

He had finally released the dam on his emotions. When the tears finally subsided Vic knelt and looked him in the eye.

"Harry, that folder functions like a computer and is like an encyclopedia. It contains basic information on the wizarding families and their history. If you think about the names you see in there it will give you a brief biography of the individual and their accomplishments in the magical world.

It will also function as a link to anyone that is a member of the society and can be used to pass messages and questions directly to anyone that you know within the group or pass questions to the group. The folder will return to you if it is lost and will not function for anyone else that is not a member of the society. No one can see the screen except for you and it works by you utilizing your mind to operate it while your hand is placed on the triangle to power it. The society does not have any hard and fast rules for membership except staying true to the cause of bettering the overall society. We may not always agree on the same way of doing that, but we try as best as we can to agree before taking action whenever necessary."

Harry nodded as he clutched the gift to his chest and once again gave thanks for everything that had happened recently to make his life so much better than it was before. He stood back from Vic, gave Julian a hug and bid them both farewell before he headed home with a smile on his face.

He walked through the front door of the Dursley house and went straight to his room to undress and take a shower. As he got into his bed he grabbed the binder to open it and placed his left hand on the triangle while mentally thinking, Potter family. He spent the rest of the night pressing the names individually to read the information on them. He was amazed at what they had accomplished over the centuries and saddened at the fact that he was effectively the last Potter alive after such a rich history.

He was saddened as he looked at his dad James Potter's information. A former auror, a graduate of Hogwarts and gifted in Transfiguration and Defense against the Dark Arts. His hand lingered as he pressed the name Lily Potter Nee Evans. A mistress of charms, a potions apprentice and a runes prodigy. He was awed at how gifted his parents were and resolved himself to do his best to make them proud. He placed the binder beside his pillow and fell asleep with a smile on his face.

* * *

 **JULIAN POV**

Julian hugged and thanked his uncle as he walked him to his car. He had been overwhelmed initially at the amount of information that his uncle had given him but was excited when he had received his own binder. He had quickly agreed to join the society when his uncle had spoken of it and was slightly relieved when his uncle assured him that he was not being asked to save the entire world.

When he heard him say that we just ask you to make a difference where you can he felt a weight fall off his mind. That was something more achievable for him as that was what he aspired to already. He walked back into his house after his uncle drove off and tidied up his house as he got ready for bed.

He drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face as he mentally recited "No weapon formed against me shall prosper."

* * *

 _ **I hope I was able to give reasonable explanations for what I have done so far, and that it provides an entertaining read. This is relatively new territory for me and I am far from perfect. I seek to improve as I go along and get more practice and I thank everyone who takes the time to read my story. Toodles.**_

hope


	5. Chapter 5

_I wish to thank those who have reviewed my work and provided feedback. This chapter seeks to address another part of the summer and to provide insight into how Harry uses this time to develop and educate himself. Harry remains the main character and Julian, the OC is meant to function as a mentor and a friend. He will influence Harry but will focus more on guiding him versus indoctrinating him with his beliefs or mindset._

* * *

Harry laid on his back panting lightly as he stared up into the branches of the tree above him. He absentmindedly noted that it was a eucalyptus tree as he stared at the branches. He was tired but relaxed after his morning workout.

He had finished a three-mile jog, interspersed with walking whenever he got tired and had done a series of exercises that he had found in the binder which focused on strengthening the core muscles of the body. He had been shocked to find that the abdominal muscles and back muscles affected almost all the movement of the body.

He flexed his bicep and noted his newly developing muscles with fascination. His body had changed so much after changing his eating habits and beginning to exercise regularly. He stretched languidly as he sat up and looked over at his new garden.

The garden was laid out inside a square shaped design. The beds on the outside were planted with mint, rosemary and catnip to act as a natural way of repelling mosquitoes and some insects. The beds on the inside portion of the square were uniformly spaced and planted with lettuce, cucumber vines, beans, summer squash and radishes. He had layered the area between the beds with flat rocks and gravel to reduce the amount of mud that he had to remove from his shoes after he worked in the garden. He had also using a weak saltwater mixture between the stones to keep grasses and weeds from germinating there. He had also ensured that he watered the beds well to ensure that the salt did not affect his vegetables. He had ensured that he obtained the same soil mixture with manure that Julian used in his garden.

He had polled the neighborhood to ascertain the types of vegetables desired most before he planted, at the suggestion of Julian. He remembered that advice because in his eagerness to start planting he had been wanting to plant almost everything from the seed store. Julian had waited for him to calm down and explained the importance of knowing the market needs and the growth period of different vegetables and herbs. He kept a bed separate for a variety of vegetables he wished to try growing as a compromise. So far, he had only planted beets in it with some arugula on the other side.

He had been met with some hesitance at first, but after he started explaining the advantages of eating home grown vegetables and herbs without using chemicals and his desire to earn some money on his own, he had been met with a warmer reception. The first harvest of lettuce and radishes had sold well and that had seen him with ten pounds in profit and very satisfied clients. Vernon had even sold some of the subsequent harvests to his coworkers after he had bragged about his nephew's entrepreneurial skills.

He snorted when Vernon passed through his thoughts and grimaced as the Dursley's family new attitude was so strange to him. After the promises and the apologies, they had started to implement many changes and had stuck to them as well, which surprised him.

* * *

Vernon had started getting up to go walking early on morning and had dragged Dudley with him. The first morning they had both returned after an hour long walk sweating heavily and very tired. They had gone in a different direction to him and Julian that day. Julian himself was not a fan of running and had quickly purchased a bicycle that he used to keep him company as he ran.

Petunia had thrown herself into her gardening and had managed to transform the front lawn to a pleasing design that had caused a mad scramble as the other housewives refused to be shown up. She could often be found on her knees, head hidden underneath her wide brimmed garden had muttering darkly as she glared at their attempts to outdo her. The resulting transformations caused the Surrey Daily newspaper to run an article about the beautifully transformed landscape in Privet Drive. She had been featured as the best designed landscape by the reporter which had increased the determination by her neighbors to outdo her. This eventually led to the Privet Drive Annual landscaping competition which saw people driving miles to view their designs.

Vernon had also cultivated his own garden at the back and had developed a passion for growing peppers and herbs. He had tasted some of the pepper sauce that Julian had shared with them and had fallen in love with the heat and taste. He had experimented with a variety of peppers he obtained at the grocer before he ended up with a mix that he liked best. The pepper and herb mixture he eventually settled on had been complimented by Julian and the other neighbors after he shared it.

He was also starting to lose weight and he was a lot calmer nowadays. His new calmer attitude saw him becoming more effective at work especially when dealing with workplace issues. His new mantra was "A man without self-control is like a city without walls, anyone and anything can go in and out." He also took to heart, "Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry." Whenever he became angry he would repeat this one to himself and it helped to calm him down.

He had started spending more time with Dudley early in the morning when both exercised together, and he was delighted to see his son coming out of his stubborn shell and start to push himself. He had signed him up to a boxing gym and he and the rest of the family were impressed with the turnaround in Dudley's attitude. He had fought against the new discipline he had never dealt with before, but when he realized that his parents still cared about him he had grudgingly started to accept the new regime.

Vernon had been apprehensive at first when they had changed their diet, but Julian had been invaluable in showing them new ways of cooking and how to design their menus to accommodate healthier options. They now used a lot less pasta and rice and included more vegetables and herbs when they prepared their food. They stopped drinking soda, drank more water and cut down on the amount of bread they ate. They ate a lot more salads and steamed vegetables, but the meat was now seasoned more aggressively because of their trying new things. Vernon, Dudley and Harry loved lots of pepper, but Petunia preferred hers milder than them.

Things remained slightly awkward between Harry and the rest of the family but that was expected after everything that happened between them. As time passed, the tension decreased as they tested the boundaries of the newly hatched relationship.

* * *

Harry had discovered meditation was difficult for him as his mind was always busy and clearing his mind proved difficult. He had learned to focus more on things that calmed him and that he enjoyed. He would sit down and focus solely on a single mantra "Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger." He became calmer, taking deep breaths and now thought through things a lot better before he acted. He still got angry sometimes, but he did not lose his temper easily anymore.

He had set up a schedule that saw him allocate his time more wisely. He dedicated his early morning to exercise and gardening. When he was finished with them both he would get a full breakfast and meditate in his room or in the back yard if he could find a cool secluded spot. The midday would see him going over to hang out with Julian if he was home, where they would discuss a variety of subjects. He found his memory getting better the more he exercised his mind and Julian taught him to play games against him in his mind. He had to remember his moves and the location of his opponent and his moves to prevent himself from losing. It was fun and often saw him losing as he often lost track of his opponents moves and became ultra-focused on winning.

This taught him the importance of seeing things from multiple perspectives and eventually he slowly became better at it. He discussed ancient civilizations like Rome and why their empire fell as well as the benefits and disadvantages that they had.

He sometimes spent his afternoons at the park where he watched the young children playing and having fun. He was by nature a loner and it was difficult for him to open himself up to people. He found the things that interested him were not often shared by the children in his age range and the older children were more interested in the opposite sex than he was comfortable with.

He often prayed that puberty would not affect him like it did the teenagers he saw around him. His new attitude, his filled-out frame and his new clothing saw him becoming more appealing to the children in the neighborhood. Now that Dudley and his friends had stopped bullying the children the atmosphere became more friendly and open. He was encouraged by Julian to speak to and acknowledge those around him even if he did not like them. When he had questioned why Julian had looked at him seriously and said, "We are all humans with a common ancestry. That person you ignore or mistreat now may become someone whom you may work with later or must interact with. Unless the person is trying to kill or hurt you, treat them with dignity even if they have none. When they realize that their treatment of you is not affecting you it gives them no power over you."

He had then given him a wicked grin and whispered, "It also really pisses them off and confuses them."

His evenings were dedicated to fun and relaxation. He often sat with the binder in his lap and read up on the history of the wizarding world and the conflicts between both worlds. He was fascinated by the origins of the many magical creatures and plants. He had been fascinated by how plants had been influenced both with psychic power and later with magic to be healthier, to be more nutritious and how different strains had developed as a result. Plants and animals became more resistant to pests and disease, but this also resulted in stronger pests and new diseases.

He recognized that a balance was always present in the environment and this made him appreciate his surroundings more.

He learnt of how the magical community had started to gradually draw together in their own villages and formed their own communities. The rise in conflict between them and the mundane communities had seen the development of wards and aversion spells which allowed them to remain relatively hidden. They had out of necessity formed councils as a form of governance and started to put rules in place to protect themselves against unnecessary conflict.

The specific targeting of the members of their population had seen them placing strict restrictions of using or being witnessed using their powers. Some of the wizards advocated total separation from the worthless 'muggles' while others advised peace and eventual amalgamation between the communities. This caused a major rift between the two sides and led to the establishment of dark (those against peaceful cohabitation), the light (Those that supported it) and the neutrals (Those families who refused to take a side).

Neither side was able to secure enough support to overcome the other and it reached an eventual stalemate with the light side and the dark side holding fast to their positions while the neutrals worked to keep the peace.

The role that some of the priests had played in contributing to the conflict saw many of the wizarding families turn their backs on religion and they developed new cultures and practices to form their own faith and beliefs. They researched many of the more pagan beliefs and integrated them into their lifestyles to show their disdain and hatred for the church.

The councils that had been formed by the wizards dedicated gifted wizards to researching new ways of protecting their communities and saw many different experiments and discoveries made. The discovery of dark magic that allowed them to use magic to hurt their opponents saw research being dedicated to that aspect of this new magic. They used two hundred prisoners that they had captured to attempt to create an army to attack the muggles. They tortured them repeatedly and broke their spirits until their minds were broken. They attempted a ritual to turn them into an immortal army to use against the muggles, but it failed spectacularly.

The failed ritual killed the prisoners, but their remaining bodies were transformed into what came to be called dementors. The remaining bodies were indestructible and transformed to be skeletal in appearance and remained covered in the ragged cloaks they had been wearing during the ritual. They floated above the ground and would attack anyone who they came near to. Their presence filled you with despair and drained the energy from the environment around them to radiate a biting cold around them. Many wizards lost their lives that day as the creatures fed on the life force of anyone that they could reach. They had finally managed to raise a ward that kept them contained but they had already lost twenty wizards by then. The bodies were later found to show signs of life like breathing and a heartbeat but proved to be unresponsive to stimuli and eventually died after a few months. The wizards later theorized that their souls had been devoured leaving the body functioning until the absence of the soul caused the body to stop working.

The dementors were eventually transferred to an island off the coast of England that was created through another ritual and heavily warded to prevent them leaving or escaping. Centuries later it was used to create a prison for wizarding criminals and named Azkaban. They went onto develop the Patronus spell to repel them and to control their movement.

The dementors were especially drawn to individuals with strong negative emotions and drained the energy from whomever or whatever they encountered. Their instincts were all that drove them, and they would naturally obey anyone with great power and a heart filled with hatred especially if they could feed freely.

Harry had read the report in sick fascination at the depths of depravity the conflicts had driven the wizarding world to partake in. The wizarding world had lacked the numbers and training to adequately fight against the weapons of the mundane world, which had driven their experiments and research to counter this weakness. He was slightly relieved to note that they had stopped that type of research afterwards but as his conversations with Julian reminded him, he knew that the desire for power would often drive people to do terrible things.

He had read about how the ruling council had eventually been turned into the Wizengamot and seats assigned to the individual families who had sat on the council. Those seats were given a larger share of the vote with two per family, while subsequent members joining after that being assigned a single vote.

They elected a Chief Warlock who oversaw their meetings and would cast the deciding vote if they remained locked after voting on any issues before them. The Wizengamot was influenced by the system of government set up in the muggle world but this was never acknowledged by the wizards. It was given the power to draft laws and to function as a court and to pass judgements.

The setup of the Wizengamot was put in place by the mid sixteenth century in England. It continued to function separately until the establishment of the Ministry of Magic in the eighteenth century, as the regulation and administration of the wizarding world became overwhelming for them. They created departments within the ministry to deal mainly with maintaining law and order, education and monitoring and maintaining the Statute of Secrecy.

* * *

He closed the binder as he was tired of reading and started to do his form of meditation. He felt for the warmth in his chest which he had realized was his magic and began to center his thoughts on it as he sat still. He felt extremely peaceful and his magic hummed within him. He kept his eyes closed and felt a prod urging him to open them. When he did so he was greeted by the site of a large ball of energy resting before him. He walked towards it as he felt within him that this was his core of magic and he was in awe as he looked at it. He felt a comforting warmth radiating from it as he stood before the ball of light. He noted that it was connected to many tubes which transported the energy presumably throughout his body.

He was fascinated by the number of them which exceeded hundreds as he counted. He had exited his mindscape as he termed it after what seemed like a long time to be surprised to note that less than five minutes had passed. He shrugged and chalked it up to magical bullshit and opened his binder to research magical cores.

He was surprised to find little information on it within the encyclopedia and realized that the wizards probably had hidden a lot of their research from the society. He did note that it was theorized that a magical core existed, and it functioned like a heart, but the entry was brief with little more information than that.

He resolved to experiment with it to see what else he could find out through his own research. He noted the calendar was showing him that it was approaching the end of August and got up to head downstairs for the evening meal. He noted to himself that time flies when you are having fun.

When he woke up the next day he set out to do his morning routine and popped over by Julian to find him home. When he recounted to Julian what he had discovered he was cautioned to experiment only with him present, to ensure that he did not harm himself or put his surroundings at risk.

Harry had been surprised as he had not considered that his research could have involved any danger to him or to his surroundings as Julian had pointed out. He went out to the back yard and began to meditate and quickly found himself in his new mindscape. Nothing had changed since his last visit and he noted that his awareness floated to wherever he focused his attention to. He noted that this body was not actually present, and he could see, feel and hear what was happening before him. He sent his awareness inside the core and noted the energy within was constantly flowing outwards and returning eventually in much smaller quantities.

He theorized that magic was being used by his body to optimize it in some way. When he opened his eyes as he left his mindscape he noted a shimmering dome surrounding his home at the Dursleys which connected to him before it disappeared. He explained what he had seen to Julian who looked shocked at hearing this and immediately contacted Vic using his binder.

* * *

Vic had driven over and pulled into Julian's garage about two hours later as they sat waiting and idly chatting. The look on his face was thunderous as he grilled Harry on what he had seen. He had brought a short humanoid creature with him whom he had explained was a goblin, who answered to the name Bob.

He and Julian had looked at each other in shock and then mutually decided to just ignore it as just something that would best be left alone. Bob had looked at Harry with a faint look of surprise and had proceeded to continue through the house to the backyard facing the Dursley home. He had gone silent and extended his hand and moved it around in an intricate pattern while muttering to himself. He had turned to Harry and done the same before he grit his teeth and started muttering angrily to himself.

He opened his eyes after he took a deep breath and led them back into the house. He started his explanation when they sat down at the kitchen table across from each other. He introduced himself as Boballion Wardsmith of the Gringotts nation. As his name suggested he was a warding expert and had been contacted by Vic requesting an urgent examination of a magical ward.

He was a goblin member of the Knowledge is Neutral society and had transported himself over to Vic's house when he was free before they had traveled here.

He looked gravely at Harry and informed him that he was being used as an energy source to power the wards that surrounded his home. This was never supposed to done on a wizard especially a child and was the source of the drain on his core that he had noted when he explored his mindscape.

He went on to explain that his magical core would refill over time but could possibly stunt his magical development if it continued as he matured. His body had compensated as a child by producing more energy, but this just meant that he would have a magical maturity at an earlier age of about fourteen years old.

Harry had mouthed "magical maturity" to himself before biting the bullet and questioning what that was to Bob.

Bob had explained that this was when the magical system in the body would become more rigid and would no longer expand. He went on to explain that magic grew as the body and mind developed and was limited by the overall health of the body. He explained that as wizards had started to utilize magic to perform more of their daily tasks, they had neglected being more physically active. As their bodies declined so did their magical capacity. They had countered that by using magical foci to enhance their control of their magic. This allowed them to use a smaller amount of magic to complete the same tasks that they had before.

The use of magical foci had levelled the playing field that allowed stronger wizards to magically outclass those weaker than themselves. Magical capacity only mattered now as it meant that stronger wizards could cast longer but if that fights were settled quickly this was easily countered.

Magical maturity expanded the magical capacity to the maximum that the body was capable of and would remain at that level if the body remained in good health.

He paused and laid out the options available to Harry to remove the tether from his magical core to the wards. The wards currently maintained a recording and transmitting information capacity, a monitor of external magic performed and an intent ward that would not allow anyone magical with intent to harm him to access the property. The drain on his core was not critical yet, but in another three years would have limited his maximum magic potential. He was already showing great magical strength comparatively for his age and recently had grown stronger because of the exercise he had been doing.

Bob cautioned Harry that the ministry had made the use of magical foci mandatory to even the playing field across the wizarding world and to maintain control of the society. He warned him to limit the use of any magic performed without a focus before other wizards and especially ministry personnel.

Bob explained that he could have the energy source for the wards be transferred to an energy converter made of diamond which would be buried deep into the earth to utilize the geothermal energy of the earth or to use a magically charged lodestone which world need to be recharged periodically by magical use on the premises or directly to the lodestone itself.

Harry wanted to choose the diamond but hesitated as he figured that it would be too expensive to do so. Bob must have noticed his hesitation because he went onto explain that the diamond was goblin made and cheaper than those found in the human world. They used specially designed equipment to convert carbon into diamond with an inlaid network of silver that allowed it to function as an energy converter. This allowed the finished product to convert any form of energy into magical energy which could then be used to power wards.

The resulting wards were stronger and much more resistant to being broken as they could not be overpowered from running out of magic. Bob noted the questioning look that Harry had given him and responded to him with a grin.

"Yes, the ministry does not like anyone to be outside of their control or influence."

Harry snorted in distaste as he realized that he would need to be very careful in his dealing with the magical world. He could understand the need for maintaining law and order, but it seemed a bit too intent on limiting and controlling the magical society.

The conflict he had read about indicated why maintaining law and order was necessary but this push for control in so many aspects of society did not bode well for the future of the community.

He looked over at Bob and indicated he would choose the diamond energy converter but wanted to have the protection extended to the whole of Privet Drive instead. He wanted the monitoring aspect of the ward lifted and the monitor on external magic performed to be removed if possible.

Bob nodded and explained that it would take a couple of days to produce more converters that would be necessary to cover the entire area. They needed seven in total to cover the seven-kilometer-wide area.

Everyone relaxed slightly after that bit of news before Bob started speaking again. He explained to Harry that he had been surprised to recognize him when he had arrived as Harry Potter, the Boy-who-lived.

He went onto to recount the story of Voldemort and how he had terrorized the wizarding world until his defeat by him as a baby. Julian, Vic and Harry had stared at him with shock as they heard the legend of the Boy-who-lived and his elevation and celebrity status within the wizarding world. He explained that the lack of television and the ministry-controlled paper ensured that little new information came into the magical world and they obsessed on anything of note within the community.

Harry snorted as he drew parallels to the small suburb he lived in and the gossip network that thrived between the housewives.

Bob went onto explain after a brief pause, that books had been made with fantastic stories of his magical adventures and these stories were extremely popular among children and small adults.

Harry looked disgusted, while Julian and Vic laughed uproariously at his disdainful expression for the newfound discovery of his celebrity status.

Harry looked over at Bob and queried if anything could be done to prevent the exploitation but was not surprised when Bob shook his head.

Bob explained that the law was decided by the Wizengamot and he would have to take his case before them to have it addressed. He would not be allowed to do this until he was an adult or unless his guardian campaigned on his behalf. He went onto explain that his assigned guardian was Albus Dumbledore, but his magical guardian was Sirius Black. Sirius was currently incarcerated for the alleged crime of betraying his parents to Voldemort but had never received a trial.

Harry had been shocked to learn of having a godfather, but Bob explained that it was politically expedient for the Wizengamot to ignore the lack of a trial because it allowed the dark families to seize control of the Black seat. Dumbledore had not done anything to push for a trial for his own reasons, which he had never shared with anyone. Since he was currently the Chief Warlock and the leader of the light faction, this meant that no one wanted to see him receive a trial, and unless he escaped from prison he would remain there until he died or the same Wizengamot decided to grant him a trial.

The absence of lawyers within the magical world and the corrupt system currently in place meant that campaigning for Sirius' freedom would see him dying before he could receive a trial.

Harry asked if it was possible for him to receive more information on the wizarding world and if he had a bank account or whatever wizards used that could pay for this information.

Bob informed him that yes, he had a bank account or as they used the term vault, with Gringotts, and that he would bring his account officer with him when he returned with the materials to transfer the wards power source over, and to expand the coverage of the wards. He noted that his vault contained the Potter library which had the entire history of the Potter family and their magical grimoires as well. They could only be opened by a Potter and it would monitor him for magical influence or compulsion before doing so. This was done to prevent anyone using nefarious means to access family secrets. He could choose to share the information contained within on his own, but it was not advisable to do so unless the person had not signed a contract or made a magical vow not to misuse that knowledge without the consent of the Potter head of family.

Harry sat back in his chair as he felt a bit overwhelmed. When things happened in his life it seemed to happen all at once. He was disturbed as he remembered that this person Albus, who was the same person that had barged into Julian's house on his birthday, was the one who was his guardian in the wizarding world.

He resolved to investigate if he could get around that when he eventually entered the community. He would ask his aunt for more information. He politely asked if it was possible to have his some of the books from his library delivered to him.

Bob explained that it was impossible for the goblins to enter the vaults and remove the entire library, and because of its size it would be difficult to determine which books to bring for him. They could instead provide books on the history of the wizarding world from wizard historians, up to date books on the various areas of magic and a self-updating copy of the wizarding laws. The books would provide theory and instructions for performing the magic within.

He was cautioned not to overexert himself when learning magic, as magical exhaustion was harsh and painful. It would place his body into a coma until it recovered enough energy to function. He was also advised to learn occlumency which was the art of protecting your thoughts, as wizards had developed the ability to read the thoughts of others over the years. It was termed Legilimency and Albus Dumbledore was an expert in the art.

The art of occlumency allowed users to focus their minds and enhanced their ability to use magic more efficiently as well. Harry palmed his face and raised his head to look at Bob, who nodded his head to confirm that yes, books on the art were controlled by the ministry.

It was approaching 6.00 pm and Bob indicated that it would take a week to produce the silver inlaid diamonds but, in the meantime, he would provide him with a trunk containing the books and secured so that only he could access it. He looked over at Julian and requested permission to use magic to leave the property which Julian gladly gave him. He paused to request permission to return with the trunks and books the next day which Julian granted as well. He raised his hand in a farewell gesture and walked into the backyard to disappear as soon as he encountered the soil there.

Vic laughed at the fascinated looks that Harry and Julian gave to Bob's disappearance and explained that goblins could travel anywhere using naturally occurring stone and soil if they were given permission by the owner of that property. Just revoking that permission prevented them from travelling freely.

Harry queried Vic as to the absence of information on the topic of magical cores when he had used the binder.

Vic had explained that some information was not made readily available outside of the wizarding world unless it was deemed necessary. When he was deemed of age by the binder, additional information would become available to him. Experimenting with his magical core was deemed dangerous without proper supervision, so information on accessing it was keyed to older magical persons.

When he received his wand and completed a year of magical schooling then more information would be unlocked.

Harry nodded. He had discovered his core on his own but luckily no damage had been done, and Julian had prevented him from experimenting without supervision.

He rose from his seat at the table and thanked both Julian and Vic profusely for their help and returned home to eat dinner. He walked up the stairs to his room and took a long shower as his mind turned over the new information that he had received.

He fell to sleep eventually during mentally mapping out different options for being able to survive in the wizarding world.

* * *

 _I will end it off there and continue when the magic books arrive, and Harry starts to go through them for solutions to the problems he was going to face in joining the magical world._


	6. Chapter 6

_**I do not like Snape, Dumbledore nor most of the characters presented in the wizarding world. J K Rowling's Harry Potter character remains a petulant child (in my opinion) who blindly accepts the abuse he receives. He never seizes the initiative to improve himself and remains mostly reactive to whatever the plot presented.**_

 _ **Yes, he is a young unloved and abused boy, but no one ever really takes the time to look out for his best interests. His best friends are a blind believer in authority and the other is jealous and fickle. He marries a girl who was raised on false stories of him and was also possessed by his fated enemy.**_

 _ **His parent's friends never really looked out for him and the less said about Remus Lupin the better. I think that this universe has so much potential that could have been better exploited but that is just my opinion as a fan.**_

 _ **He is outmatched in every way by his enemies and surrounded by people fighting a war using non-lethal force and expected to win. He knows someone is trying to kill him from the end of his first year and is not trained nor does he take his education seriously. Enough ranting and on to the story lol.**_

Bob the goblin had dropped off the books the next day and Harry and Julian spent the rest of the week reading through the varied collection and learning about the magical world.

Julian had no real interest in trying to cast magic and only took a brief glance through the magical theory books. He focused mainly on the wizarding portrayal of history and compiled a synopsis for Harry to go through at his convenience.

Julian noted that wizard's bodies had been changed over time by their magic and operated more efficiently, which resulted in them becoming immune to deadlier diseases and increased their life expectancies. This meant that their perspectives on the world changed much more slowly and they also began to see themselves as superior to the normal humans.

Some of them started to see the mundane humans as needing their guidance and protection while others viewed them as subjects to be lorded over and controlled. This overall attitude of superiority became more ingrained into the society as time went on. They did offer help to their communities at first when food ran short due to famine and when new diseases spread.

The help had been appreciated at first, but human nature had come to bear and some within the community started spreading rumors of them being the ones responsible for the famine and disease to increase their power and influence.

Julian snorted as he mused to himself at the fact that very little had changed with humanity over the years. Jealousy and greed would always find fertile ground where an individual or group within a society compiled wealth or material gain better than another.

Bob had explained to him that many of the real history of the wizarding world had been altered or destroyed as they had mutually decided to hide their origins from the wider community. The families from the original council had retained the information but their descendants had neglected studying the information in their family's libraries to concentrate on improving and developing new skills. He had departed back to Gringotts after passing on that bit of information.

The conflict between the mundane and the wizard population had caused the separation of the two communities and the formation of wizarding only communities. These new communities were consumed initially by internal struggles as many families fought for power and leadership. The election of a council of leaders saw a cessation of the conflict as the new council took a magical vow to look out for the interests of the entire community. This quelled the conflict and the families began to concentrate on their personal development and growth.

They were still minor areas of unrest within the communities, but the council was able to mitigate that by assigning licenses to the different families for exclusive rights for businesses, trades and skills. This proved to be satisfactory in the early stages, but exploitation of this monopoly began to occur when different families would be joined by marriage. Some families began to use marriage as a way to gain access to lucrative businesses and wealth. The migration of other families into these new communities from neighboring countries brought its own sets of challenges.

The new migrants found it difficult to find their footing within the new communities and some had to resort to servitude to some of the wealthier families or marry into them where possible. This led to clan structures being formed and the emergence of a servant class who had to swear loyalty to the ruling families.

This is what eventually led to the mundane population being turned to as an avenue for gaining wealth and influence. There are only so much resources and opportunities available in a controlled market after all.

The expedition into the previously unexplored continents like Africa and Asia proved to be very appealing to the wizards and partnerships were formed between select individuals in the wizarding community and the disenfranchised sons and daughters of the ruling class in the mundane society to exploit these new opportunities.

The rite of succession meant that only the firstborn son would inherit everything in the mundane societies, so all other siblings would receive a stipend or be forced to become merchants, scholars or priests. This made the promises of the wizards very appealing to them as the promised new wealth meant that they could start their own dynasties within their communities and move out from the shadow of their families.

The discovery of new wealthy civilizations further validated the continuation of this partnership. The rapid increase in wealth due to these new discoveries saw fresh conflict arise within the mundane communities, as a mad scramble arose for the control of this new trade and exploration. The wizards who had been involved also saw great gains within their communities as their wealth allowed them to advance to new heights of power and influence.

The entirety of colonization of the new world saw the rapid expansion of European wizarding influence and control spreading throughout Africa and parts of Asia. Japan and China were able to repel them easily as their style of magic was well suited to conflict. The Japanese had their ninja and samurai while the Chinese had their monks who easily pushed back the attempts of European wizards to gain a foothold within their territories.

The backlash from the ritual on the African wizards which resulted in the creation of the house elves, had also negatively impacted the attempts of the European wizards to gain new territories to control and exploit.

One of the consequences was the weakening of European wizards because of the backlash and the emergence of decreasing levels of magic being seen in the new babies. This mainly affected those who had participated in the ritual and led to a rush to hide this from others within the community. This forced them to seek to out new ways of using magic and this research led to dangerous dark rituals and the discovery of using magical foci to enhance magical casting first began to emerge.

The emergence of clearly magical plants and animals arising on their lands where they frequently used magic had indirectly led to the discovery of potions. This was kickstarted when a woman was preparing a meal and knocked some magical herbs into the cauldron she was using. She realized something was wrong when she saw the color of the contents change according to how often she stirred and the direction she used. She had noted the absence of the herbs when she looked over and noticed them missing from the kitchen counter.

The fumes from the mixture cured the cold that she had been struggling with for a while. She was extremely lucky to be cured and not killed as later experimentation proved.

This provided an opportunity for those families who had seen a decrease in their overall magical capacity, as this new field of magic did not require noticeably large amounts of magic and offered unlimited possibilities.

A guild was eventually formed because of the injuries and deaths that arose from explosions and poisoning due to this research and experimentation. The Potions guild implemented many rules and restrictions which saw a rapid reduction in the death rates in this new field. The failures and successes were recorded diligently and recorded. Some of the results from the experimentation were so dangerous that they were forever labelled as forbidden and hidden away and knowledge of the recipes and the results were erased and destroyed by the leaders of the guild.

Unfortunately, some things can never truly ever he hidden and would later come back to haunt the wizarding world a few centuries later.

The experimentation using potions combined with the lowering levels of magic among some of the darker families saw the birth of children being born with magic, but insufficient to use it externally. These children could make potions but were unable to cast magic externally, even with the use of a magical focus.

They became known as squibs and were regarded as a mark of shame by their families. The children were wiped of the memories and sent into the normal populations where they were taken in by orphanages to which they donated money to help them with their upkeep. Their introduction back into the mundane population saw the rise of muggle-born wizards showing up in a few generations when they eventually married others of magical descent as well.

Julian sat back tiredly and rubbed his eyes. He was wrung out from going through all this information and compiling it together for Harry. He saw many parallels between the human and the wizarding world and contacted Uncle Vic to see how he would go about transferring relevant knowledge into the binder network.

He had smacked himself when his uncle explained to him that all he had to do was to touch the triangle and concentrate on wanting to add the new knowledge mentally. The binder functioned like a shared database and served as a knowledge repository for storing information. Any information added was subject to independent verification by an independent party before it was made available to all the users. They design had changed many times over the years and was updated to match the technology of the times.

He had been surprised at the overall capabilities of the binder and amazed at what wizards and humans could accomplish by working together. He asked if the wizarding world had anything close to or surpassing this level of technology and was shocked to be informed that wizards had effectively locked themselves at level of the Victorian era. The rapid development during that time had been viewed as the best that mere humans could ever achieve, without having access to the glorious power of magic.

Julian had wondered why the wizarding world had made so little progress with technology but realized now that the arrogance of the wizarding world, combined with their longer lives and the monopolies held by the magical families, meant that they would not allow any new developments which would harm their wealth or standing within the community. Magic had proved to be a blessing and a curse to them because they believed that any problems or challenges could be easily overcome with magic.

Julian resolved to ensure that this level of arrogance never took root in Harry if he had anything to say about it.

He had gone out and bought introductory books on the sciences and had tasked Harry with trying to come up with non-magical methods that would solve issues before resorting to using existing magical methods to do so. Harry had been a little surprised to receive the books but had dug into them and had shown great interest in finding a way to have the best of the two worlds. He understood the point Julian was trying to make and agreed with him.

Harry had loved the way how the trunk easily contained so many books along with the additional space but grew frustrated with having to go through all of them to cross reference information, when he wished to compare the similarities and differences between the different fields of magic. The wizarding books on magic were not always written in a straightforward manner and often were filled with contradictory information that clashed with another author's work on the same topic. When he had raised the issue with Julian he had been reminded that in a society that considered itself superior and all knowing, this would likely be a common occurrence.

The books on science had given him some ideas about using a portable version of a computer but a more compact version using the binder as a template. His had filled out several notebooks at this stage and realized that if he continued at this pace he would be able to fill out his own library soon. He wished to keep his information easily accessible with a search feature but was stumped initially as to how it could be powered seeing that the wizarding world did not use electricity, and that magical use shorted out electrical equipment. He had asked Julian for ideas and had slapped his hand against his forehead when Julian had suggested using magic since it was technically a form of energy.

He had searched for information about magical batteries but had only found information on ward stones for storing magic. He had resolved to ask Bob or the goblins when he visited about the possibility of using an energy converter as a means of supplying power for his device. He had paused at that point because he realized that he would have to use runes within the design to complete the project. He realized that he also needed to do further research into the way how computers operated before he made any more plans. He was also determined that it would have unbreakable security when it was completed.

He had been delighted and fascinated when he had picked up the introductory books on runes when he recognized the versatility they offered. They were used in creating wards and for enchanting magical objects. Their potential seemed unlimited from what he had seen so far but depended on the creativity of the user. They were dangerous if not properly carved or written, and they were not taught early on in magical school. He decided to focus on the theoretical aspect of their use and wait until he had a skilled teacher to monitor and to advise him.

The books on charms and transfiguration seemed straightforward to him and these were what he focused mostly on. The ability to change the shape, size and weight of an object seemed to contradict the laws of science and he resolved to investigate this with experiments after the wards had been changed and his removal as its magical battery. The books on potions had been interesting but he was not fascinated by the subject. He saw it as useful but only viewed it as a tool that he would use and not a passion.

The magic that he seen so far that interested him was of the more active variety. He mused that he would wait until actual classes started to see if that changed his mind. The different magical ingredients fascinated him from an agricultural standpoint and he was looking forward to Herbology.

When he read up on the magical schools listed in England he realized that Hogwarts was the oldest in history and the others present were small and offered a smaller variety of subjects. They also only went to the minimally accepted standard of competence for adult wizards in Britain.

He had been happy to see a small book on occlumency and it gave basic information on the theory of it and focused more on mediation to find your magical core and then recommended setting up a defense of whatever type you were able to. He had been surprised to see the explanation that the core was a mental representation of magic as magic did not have a physical component within the body.

The book warned of the dangers of using commonly used concepts which would make attempted infiltration easier by other wizards. The defenses should be unique and preferably known only to the person who designed them to prevent betrayal and exploitation.

Harry had been stumped trying to come up with a unique method to protect his mindscape that would be totally foreign and stump any attempted intruders. He found his answer after remembering a particular conversation he had with Julian.

He started visualizing his mindscape and easily found himself within it. He placed his awareness into his core and started to mentally instruct his magic on building the defense design he wished to use.

He concentrated on creating a completely smooth and sealed sphere that had a single point of entry. It was a small doorway that opened into a tunnel. The tunnel would be completely smooth and be ended off with a single metal door at the end. The tunnel would record the magical signature of anyone who entered his mindscape.

The door had no lock and opened into a small room with a screen against one of the walls with a chair beside it. It would prompt the intruder verbally for a password to gain access to the mindscape. The password request was the trap as the chair had to be moved gently out of the room to allow access. The location that the chair had to be moved to would change automatically once the intruder was expelled.

Any attempt at providing a password would trigger a series of optical illusions being played on the screen, which would then slowly rotate around the room with more screens spawning and playing the same illusion but slightly out of synch with the preceding screen with a high pitched noise blasting to bombard the senses.

He had fallen asleep after putting all this work into motion and had reinforced his efforts to ensure the defenses grew stronger with time.

He spent the rest of time within his mindscape familiarizing himself with the feel of his magic and experimenting with following its presence throughout his body wherever it flowed. He was fascinated by the cool and reassuring sensation it gave when he sent his awareness into his magical core.

JULIAN'S HOME

Bob had finally arrived at the end of the promised week with another goblin who was introduced as Bert. His full name was Bertolius Healer, and as Harry had started to realize, the goblins last name was an indication of their field of expertise. He was there to ensure that Harry was ok after the removal of the magical tether to the ward. The diamonds were removed from a small sack that Bob had attached to his waist. They were triangular shaped prisms and three feet each in length.

Bob turned to Julian and formally requested permission to use his property as an access point to place the rods and to begin the process.

Julian quietly and firmly gave his permission to Bob and stepped back to observe the process.

Bob began a guttural chant in an unknown tongue and started waving his hands around facing towards the completely transparent diamond prisms. They levitated into the air and melded themselves into a heptagon shape. The heptagon sunk into the ground slowly and disappeared with a slowly increasing speed under the surface. Bob continued chanting for what seven minutes before he halted abruptly.

He turned to Harry and requested he lie down while Bert started his own chant as he stood over his body. Bob joined him in the chanting and they both started to mirror each other with their hand movements. The chanting began to increase in pace and tempo with Harry staying still and feeling a tug on his magic that got sharper, until finally he felt a gentle snap as the tugging stopped abruptly. He felt his magic surge within his body and the he passed out as he was overwhelmed from the sudden surge in his magic.

When he reopened his eyes, Harry found himself lying on Julian's couch with a pillow underneath his head. He saw Bert standing over him waving his hand over him. Bert nodded to him and told him that his magical core had been strained slightly from the backlash and to avoid actively using external magic for three days.

Bob explained that he would be expected to meet with his account manager on his eleventh birthday when he visited Diagon Alley to purchase his school things. He had been supposed to accompany them today but had discovered that Albus Dumbledore had attempted to access the Potter vault. He had been forced to lockdown his family's vaults until they had been properly audited to ensure that nothing had been taken.

Harry nodded, closed his eyes and lay back on the couch as his body felt numb and his magic gave him a tingling sensation throughout his body. He absentmindedly realized that his vision had improved slightly and was sharper than ever. He mentioned it to Bert who told him that because of the drain his body had struggled to heal properly because of the low supply of magic available. His magic would repair his body during the next three days and fix any major issues that it found.

He also explained that he had noted a fading magical signature on his forehead that would also be absorbed, as his body would use all resources available to optimize his body. He would also be provided with magical potions to aid in his recovery, which he would need to take once a day before he ate, until he fully recovered. He would need also a large supply of protein and carbohydrates to ensure his body had sufficient material and energy to work with.

Harry spent the next three days trapped in bed. The potions had tasted awful and the chalky chunky taste of Skele-gro had nearly made him vomit. He had drunk the other potions quickly to rid himself of the taste. The aches and pains kept him abed as his body corrected old injuries and repaired muscles, tissues and bones.

When he had finally crawled out of bed he had gained a couple of inches but thankfully all his clothes fit him well enough, He had not needed the glasses since Julian had removed the entity from his scar, so his emerald green eyes now shone brightly in his face. His hair was thicker and even messier than before, and he resolved to get it cut before school started to improve his appearance. His skin had a healthier glow to it and his smile when he cared to use it, was now captivating enough to be a weapon, which he was totally unaware of.

Harry had a poor self-image due to his life up to this point and was so accustomed to being ignored or abused that he never took pride or believed anything positive about himself. This was changing due to the influence Julian had on him, but he remained uncomfortable when receiving compliments or praise.

He walked downstairs and was greeted by the stunned expression of the Dursley family and his improved appearance. This caused him to go check a mirror to see what made them stare at him like that. He was greeted by his slightly improved appearance and noted absently that his muscles were more defined and larger than before, when he prodded them he noticed that they felt firmer too.

He shrugged at his reflection and went out to eat a breakfast of eggs, bacon and tomatoes with some porridge to wash it down. He cleaned up his dishes and went into the backyard to look at his garden. As he walked between the beds he harvested the lettuce along with some of the other vegetables available. He washed them off and arranged them nicely inside the basket and delivered his weekly order to the Polkiss home.

Piers answered the door and was followed by his sister who was a year younger, whose name was Petra. She lifted her eyes and stared at Harry standing there in his short-sleeved shirt and short pants with a smile on his face and squeaked before fleeing back into the kitchen. Pier's mom walked out from the kitchen drying her hands with a white towel and noticed his standing at the door with the basket in his hand.

She grinned at him and with a slightly evil look called out to Petra to bring her handbag from the kitchen. Petra rushed into the room dropping it before her and dashed back into the kitchen before her mother could say anything else.

Piers rolled his eyes and gave Harry a small glare before walking into the kitchen, presumably to eat his breakfast. Piers mother thanked him with a big smile on her face and gave him a big hug before pressing a five-pound note into his hand. She insisted that he keep the change and waved him out through the door before he could raise any objections.

Harry shrugged and pocketed the money as he walked back home. He just chalked it up to the fact that females were weird and carried on. His body felt amazingly strong and he wanted to explore his mindscape to test how strong his defenses had grown.

When he sat down on his bed and entered his mindscape he was greeted by total the large imposing sphere. He entered the doorway and tested the password trap to ensure it was working effectively.

His magic eagerly responded to his mental directions and he noted that his awareness moved around faster than before. The channels from his core had increased in size and his core he noted appeared to be bigger.

He shrugged and mentally directed his magic to continue to strengthen his defenses and withdrew from his mindscape.

He continued to go through his magical textbooks and compiled a list of questions to research.

 _ **How long does a transfiguration hold for and can it be made permanent?**_

 _ **Does the magic run out releasing the transfiguration or does the innate properties of the material transfigured revert on its own?**_

 _ **Why do wizards use another language to cast magic with instead of their own?**_

When he looked at charms he decided to find out:

 _ **What are the limitations of charms?**_

 _ **What how long can a charm lasts after it is cast?**_

He closed his notebook and grimaced as he realized that school would soon be restarting. He had not really enjoyed the experience before as with Dudley and his friends bullying him along with his oversized and worn clothing, the children had either treated him badly or ignored him.

Spending time with Julian and Vic had given a level of confidence in himself and he was much more comfortable with his own company. He recognized the value of one's appearance and had subconsciously started to pattern himself on Julian's polite but distant personality. He tried to emulate the presence the Vic emitted because he liked how people were cautious in dealing with him.

Now that the ward had been changed and expanded he spent time flowing his magic through his body and getting familiar with how it felt. He had used scientific methods to test how different materials responded to magic interacted with them. He had experimented first with Dudley's old clothes at first but outside of a small glow he noticed nothing had changed. He recognized after that that he needed to place an intent or command to his magic to get something done.

His subsequent experiments saw him being able to change the color of the materials, repair and renew clothing and increase the durability of the items he used. When he attempted to renew things, he found himself using his magic very inefficiently and much of it was wasted when it left his hands which he used as a conduit. He also noted that he needed to provide a similar material on older or worn clothing or it would shrink as it consumed material to replace wherever it was worn or missing. He had refined the process through trial and era until it the magical wastage was reduced, and the effects occurred much more quickly as he practiced.

His magic seemed to retain the improvements it made with his experimentation and responded much more easily as he used it. He was able to change the properties of materials, but they reverted quickly once he withdrew his magic. He learned that his magic responded to his intent and was easier to shape and use with practice. He noticed that his strength increased when he reinforced his muscles with magic but found it required him to also focus on doing the same to his bones and tendons after injuring himself while experimenting during exercising.

He had not been seriously injured but the lecture on safety and responsibility by Julian had gotten the point about taking proper precautions while he experimented driven home. He had also realized that he released small amounts of magic unconsciously when he realized that his plants were growing faster than before. He also recognized that with the increased growth came an increased use of water and resources from the soil, after he observed the beds were bone dry less than two hours after he had watered them. The soil mixture that he used to place around the plants was also being more quickly used up as well. There was a slight improvement in the taste of the harvested vegetables after he had made his adjustments accordingly and they lasted longer after being harvested.

His clients had been impressed with the difference and had increased his tips despite his protests. Petra Polkiss eventually stopped running from the room whenever she saw him, and she became friendlier with him once she got over her shyness. They had little in common, but he apparently inspired her as she started helping her mom with her landscaping.

His morning routine improved by leaps and bounds and he increased his distance to five miles over time. He concentrated on decreasing the length of time he took with Julian encouraging and pacing him, as he rode along beside him.

He had even been able to persuade Julian to obtain some samples of metals to try using his magic with and had actually found the material that would work best for his future project. Aluminum was lightweight and retained his magic more easily than anything else he had used. Silver conducted magic well but did not have the same level of magical retention as aluminum. He figured that he would use a combination of the two once he was able to design a rune array or arrays that would accomplish his intended task.

The examples he had seen so far in his rune books showed that outside of some enchanted tools and items the European wizarding world was not a very progressive society, especially when it came to using magic outside of the established and proven methods. He remembered that most of the new fields of magic had come through children or by accidents.

He thought that alchemy looked promising but little information was available to the wider population. It seemed like the mundane version that had spawned chemistry in the medieval period but seemed to have been more effective because of magic. He noted the pinnacle achievement had been the creation of a Philosopher's Stone by a wizard named Nicholas Flamel but wondered if the claims were really true. The ability to convert items into gold would need lots of power to change these items at the molecular level and keep them there.

The start of school had not impacted as much as he had feared on his schedule. He became much more proficient at repairing clothes and reinforcing them through lots of practice. He was able to obtain small radios and an old computer to experiment on as well.

He was able to figure out why magic affected electrical items the way how it did. They were both made of energy and had opposing resonances which caused the equipment to malfunction when they came together in large quantities.

 **INTERLUDE**

The wizards had just focused on separating them from interacting by using their wards after some families had tried to purchase some of the electrical items for use, only to have them short out once magic was used heavily around them.

The need to have electricity run to the houses also meant that it would have meant exposing themselves in some way to mundane attention. This could have been remedied by use of memory erasure, but they decided against it and banned it within magical communities. This caused them to turn away from any efforts made by the muggle-born to advance the society forward in using technology.

The darker families also believed that the muggle-born were abominations as they had not come through the families present to the wizarding world to their knowledge. The light families saw them as a means of working towards integrating the two worlds.

The dark families were in a stronger political position because of the many conflicts within their society as the dark often clashed violently against the light faction. The willingness of the dark to use lethal spells meant that more of their members would be alive at the end of the conflict.

The Society that Vic was a part of had over the years worked with the mundane government to assassinate and kill key members of the conflict who responsible for funding and pushing for the subjugation of the mundane world. They had an intricate network that allowed them to remain up to date and well informed, which they used to arrange accidents and secret assassinations to derail these movements before they got out of hand.

They remained hidden from both societies mostly and had made efforts to show the truth of the history between both worlds. The darker families had dismissed it as blatant propaganda and had made sure to destroy any evidence that supported the information whenever it showed up. The truth of muggle-born origin was dismissed as subterfuge by the light and legislation was passed to ensure that any muggle-born were not granted full rights within their society.

This resulted in the large exodus of the muggle-born after they graduated from school and realized that the thousands of galleons spent on their education did not ensure that they were able to prosper in a society controlled by the pureblood and wealthy families.

Some of them stayed and worked in menial positions and some were even able to marry into some of the wealthy families. This move gained the scorn and derision of the darker families for the perceived dilution of heritage and risking the loss of their magic by such unions.

The birth of healthy and stronger wizards from these unions was largely ignored and only served to increase the resentment against the muggle-born. Families were split down the middle because of these tensions and any who embraced them and supported the light in the effort to find some way of amalgamating the two worlds was declared a blood traitor.

Both sides locked down on their beliefs, each believing the other side to be wrong with the only bridge between them being the neutrals who were now being pressured to take a side as time went on.

 **BACK TO HARRY ONCE MORE.**

The new clothes Harry wore, his increased health and appearance meant that Harry was now being noticed more than ever. He was uncomfortable with the attention and remained distant and aloof. He treated his classmates politely but did not go out of his way to make friends. He found little in common with most of them and he was still slightly resentful for the way in which he had been treated.

His aloof nature and his rare but captivating smile made him the talk of many groups of girls within the primary school, but he remained largely unaware of it. He just thought the girls were shy or acting weird. He had no real interest or idea of romantic love and the concept was foreign to him.

He spent the rest of the school doing his schoolwork, refining his magical control and compiling new ideas. He was introduced to comics and fictional literature and he became fascinated by setting up an artificial intelligence like Jarvis from Iron-man. The concept of a hidden workspace and a supercool vehicle appealed immensely to his boyhood fantasies.

He tried accomplishing it in his mindscape but his presence there nullified any attempts he made. He was able to use the concepts of guardians in his mindscape, but they only responded to commands given but never acted independently on their own.

He chose jellyfish-like creations that were attracted to foreign magic and would latch on to any intruders and sink their tentacles in and drain magic when they did so. When he had tested them the first time he had felt the pain in his body when he awoke. When he had gone back in to ascertain the reason why, he had realized that the mind can affect the body if the sensation was strong enough.

He had remembered seeing how a boy had attempted to kiss a girl he liked who was not pleased with his efforts, and the way how he had collapsed after she had kicked him between his legs. The way how the boy had collapsed and screamed had made him reflexively close his legs along with every male in the vicinity. He decided to use that as inspiration as a penalty as well for anyone who kept trying to invade his mindscape.

He had found that he could control the length of his hair and had shortened it rather than going to the barber. He had been experimenting with his magical network and had followed one of the channels to his scalp and had pulsed the magic out of curiosity. When he had opened his eyes and found himself with shoulder length hair he had gone back to experiment with it.

He had been able to properly refine it with much experimentation and often hilarious results before he figured out how to easily change his hair's length.

He ended up keeping the sides shorter and the top slightly longer. His hair remained unruly regardless of how he tried so he just went with organized chaos.

The Dursley family and he had gained a more relaxed approach to each other and they allowed him a lot of freedom. He was given a curfew of nine to be home by and could move freely around the neighborhood if he alerted them to his whereabouts.

He had decided to live and let live as they had honestly changed since the destruction of the letter. Petunia still was a gossip, Vernon was still a bit stiff and Dudley had his moments when he sulked, but they were tolerable where he was concerned.

The arrival of winter had seen him clearing his garden and leaving the ground overturned until spring came. He had visited Julian's greenhouse to help and keep Julian company on mornings and had even learned how to make Caribbean-styled seasoning with him. They had substituted some different herbs to experiment with the taste and had managed to fill twenty large bottles which he stored in the fridge. He had especially enjoyed chopping up the ingredients and watched fascinated as Julian used a mortar and pestle to crush them and mix them together. The combination of smells from the herbs and spices had lingered in the kitchen for a couple of days.

He had been gifted with three of the jars and Vic had purchased ten from Julian to use and gift to his friends. Some of the neighbors had even come over to purchased them once they saw Harry leaving with his bounty.

They had been invited to a fall cookout at the park by the Dursleys where they had been exposed to Vernon's new pepper sauce and the seasoning on some fish that Julian had prepared as his contribution. The gathering had been held over the weekend and had been a great success. Vic had attended and had brought some coconut sweetbread as his contribution.

Julian had laughed when he realized that the English used the term sweetbread to refer to the fried thymus (organ) of a lamb or calf. The bread had been a hit with the children especially who found anything with sugar delicious. The adults had been complimentary but more reserved in trying it.

The end of the final school term saw Harry more comfortable with himself and able to control his magic extremely well. He had found out that the Potter family usually fell among the neutral side until his father James, had aligned himself with Dumbledore during the war against Voldemort. He was not impressed with the way how the war had been fought or the reasons behind it but had been glad to know that it was over.

He had been disgusted by how many of the dark families had been able to avoid prosecution and had sucked his teeth when he realized that the light side had fought by stunning and locking up persons who had murdered families and slaughtered, raped and assaulted the mundane population. He was not impressed so far by what he had seen, and it further cemented his plan to not remain within the wizarding world in England after he had finished his schooling.

He was taller and was currently at a height of five feet, four inches tall and stood a head taller than most of his classmates. He was stronger than anyone else in his year group and had graduated to being able to do fingertip pushups once he had strengthened his shoulders, chest and arms. His routine included squats, pushups, pull ups and lots of abdominal work. His work in the garden ensured that his back got quite a work out which complimented his current workout schedule.

He was now able to shrink and enlarge objects by placing his hand on them to direct his magic but was still frustrated with transfiguring objects. His magic while a lot more controlled was not precise enough to perform small and precise changes. He could make objects float but they would drop once his magic left the object. He could maintain a string of magic to the object to maintain this, but it was difficult to maintain the control necessary to do this for a long period of time.

He realized that when he emitted his magic it left his body in the form of waves and he had to consciously reshape it to be more efficient. He had experimented with shaping it until he realized that using strings was more efficient and granted him better control. If he needed power, he would plait the strings together to increase the power being sent to the object.

He hated being touched especially by people he did not know or that he was comfortable with. He did not trust easily and while he would give people chances if they made mistakes, he would not allow them back into his circle of friends once they betrayed him. He would forgive but he would never allow them into his trust once they had done him wrong.

He had taken Julian's advice to heart as well.

'No one expects you to be perfect. You can and will make mistakes but be willing to learn from them when you realize that you have, examine yourself and your actions to see how you can do better or different the next time.'

He had surprised the teachers with the drastic turn around in his appearance and his schoolwork but had rejected their attempts to befriend him because he had not forgotten how much they had ignored the issues he had faced before. They had allowed the bullying to continue unabated throughout his time at school and now he was leaving he had no desire to allow them to get close to him now.

He had walked through the school gates on the last day and had not looked back as he made his way home. That part of his life was over, and he had no real interest in holding onto anything or anyone from his time there.

 **I am ending it here with the start of the final summer vacation before the arrival of his letter and his entry into the wizarding world. I hope that this chapter entertained and informed more on my plot and the direction I am taking it in. I am not an expert on science and some of my concepts will be pure BS as a result. Toodles.**


	7. Chapter 7

_**I find it difficult in doing time skips and I am a bit compelled to explain some things in more detail than others. I will not be using the Latin phrases except as I find necessary to denote spells or go into lots of details describing persons and locations. I am still new to this style of writing and I appreciate constructive feedback. I used Google to find information on England, so it may not be geographically accurate, but the locations are all real according to Google lol. I am from the Caribbean after all and while I have traveled England has never been a destination of mine. The Harry Potter franchise remains the property of whomever holds the rights but any changes outside of the plot remain mine and the grammatical mistakes as well.**_

* * *

When Harry woke up on the first day of his vacation he stretched and jumped out of his bed. His morning routine was so ingrained in him now that he moved virtually on auto-pilot now. As he made his way down the stairs he realized that he had less than two months before the start of his entry into the magical world.

He went into the kitchen to get a glass of water before he started his run. He walked through the back door and sat down on the step to put on his trainers before he jogged over to Julian's home. Julian met him at the curb walking his bicycle and mounted it before they set off for their jog.

They travelled side by side in silence at a steady clip for the first four and a half miles. Harry finished the last half mile at a faster pace trying to push himself as hard as he could. When they arrived back at the front of Julian's home, Harry was covered in sweat with a big smile on his face. He was ecstatic at the progress he had made in lowering the time for the run by almost thirty seconds.

They walked around to the back of the home and went through their morning routine of stretches and a light workout.

When they were finished Julian went in and brought out a pitcher of cucumber juice with some slices of lemon added. Feeling a lot more relaxed and refreshed Harry turned to Julian and voiced his concerns about having to soon enter the wizarding world.

Julian looked over at him as he lay flat on the grass and gave him a contemplative look. He sat down on the grass beside him and looped his hands together around his knees and paused for a few moments before he answered Harry.

"It is normal to feel apprehensive about going into a new or strange environment but remember this. You are strong. You have overcome some horrible circumstances that would have mentally and physically destroyed other people. You have me, your family and my uncle Vic on your side and don't forget that. If you need help we will do all that is humanly possible to help you overcome that challenge. Besides as long as you fail to plan you have planned to fail."

The last part was said in a faux English accent with Julian twisting his nose into the air to complete the image.

Harry collapsed in laughter as he felt a lot lighter after Julian reassured him. He wiped a tear from his eye as he felt a surge of warmth in his chest as he reached over to hug him in thanks.

They both got up to head into the kitchen and Harry noticed some onions, cucumbers, tomatoes and scotch bonnet peppers on the counter along with a cut lemon. He noticed some salted cod fish soaking inside a bowl and turned to Julian with a raised eyebrow.

Julian laughed at his unspoken query and replied that he was making buljol (pronounced bull jowl). It was another Caribbean dish that he had been craving but had needed to obtain the scotch bonnet peppers before he made it. He gave harry the onions to dice and placed the salted fish in a saucepan filled with lots of water to boil. He peeled the cucumbers and sliced open the tomatoes and removed the seeds from them both.

He then diced them up as well as the peppers and left them in separate piles. He then checked the stove and poured off the water in the pan then refilled it once more returning it back to the stove.

He turned off the pan once it had been brought to a boil and poured off the hot water and placed the fish into a porcelain bowl. He shredded the fish and then proceeded to add all the diced ingredients to the bowl and tossed them together before squeezing the lemon over the mixture with a dash of black pepper and a light sprinkling of salt.

He served a bowl full to Harry who stared at it briefly before shrugging and placing a spoonful into his mouth. He leaned back with a thoughtful look on his face as the pieces of fish, cucumber, tomato and hot pepper filled his mouth with the onion giving it a slightly crunchy texture. He swallowed and looked over at Julian who was already halfway through his.

"It's not bad. Different but nice."

Julian laughed and handed him a bowl of crackers and told him to try it with them to see what he thought. He pointed out that it had originated in Trinidad and was used as a salad. It was healthy, and filling and Julian had first been exposed to it when he had come over to England and stayed with his uncle. The Caribbean community embraced each other in their new country and often shared meals and recipes when they gathered together.

By the time Harry had finished his bowl he had started to really appreciate the taste especially the heat from the peppers and the cool crunchy goodness of the onion and cucumbers mixed together. He reached over to fill his bowl again and his hand hit Julian's who smiled and filled Harry's bowl before taking the rest.

They washed down the meal with the remaining cucumber juice and Harry took the dishes to clean up.

When he was finished they went into the backyard and Harry took out his notebook to start compiling his priorities while in the wizarding world.

He looked over at Julian who just raised an eyebrow at him as if to say, 'Your life, choose your priorities.'

Harry sighed and starting writing with a determined look on his face. His list was simple:

 _Magical education_

 _Improve and innovate on existing technology_

 _Establish contacts_

 _Make friends_

 _Manage and sort out my family's estate._

He read them over and passed them to Julian who read through them and asked him if he planned on having any fun at all with a sly smirk on his face.

Harry snorted and slapped him on his arm in response. He understood what Julia was trying to tell him, but he was going to have to get comfortable before he contemplated anything along those lines. He was not very happy with much of what he had seen with this hidden world but overall, he just wanted his own place and his own space away from most of the world.

He did not want to totally isolate himself, but he preferred the company of intelligent and hard-working people most of the time. He was unaware of the games, sports and recreational activities that the wizarding world had but he was looking forward to finding out.

Julian had introduced him to Monopoly, Scrabble and a variety of board games which he enjoyed. He also found he enjoyed playing card games as well. He loved bluffing and had worked hard on that skill after Julian had pointed out that his face showed his emotions easily. It had taken many hours practicing in the mirror before he learned to keep his face completely blank in front of his opponents.

* * *

The letter from Hogwarts arrived by owl shortly after the summer holidays had started. The list was focused on stationery, potions supplies and information on the uniform. The owl did not wait for a response even though he tried to stop it from leaving. He resolved to send off the response when he went to Diagon Alley to shop for his school supplies. He knew that he was only allowed to purchase his wand on his eleventh birthday, so he did not want to have to return to the Alley more than once. He feared being recognized and how the wizards may react to his presence.

Harry spent the rest of the month reading up on the wizarding laws. They were amazingly convoluted and were clearly biased in favor of the purebloods and the older families. They mainly dealt with the preservation of the Statute of Secrecy and protecting the licenses and monopolies of the wizarding world. There was the section which dealt with the muggle-born wizards and the classification of magical creatures. He was shocked to see that they regarded werewolves as beasts even though they were wizards most of the time.,

He searched for information in his binder but found limited data on it. Werewolves were mentioned regarding the effects of the transformation, the way how the curse was passed and the best methods to defend, contain or kill them. He noted that silver was lethal in large amounts to the infected persons and that a potion named wolfsbane was only able to subdue the wolf aspect of the curse. They had no rights within the community and were not allowed to work.

This part made him snort in disgust because from discussing history with Julian he knew that people treated in this manner will eventually lose all hope and rebel against their community. He better understood now why the dark magical creatures fought on the side of Voldemort. It started to dawn on him that he was going to need help in carrying out his agenda and he resolved to be on the lookout for possible candidates when he got to the school. He doubted that many of the pureblood wizards would be interested but as his chats with Julian had constantly reinforced 'Be open minded.'

He snorted as he also remembered another of Julian's favorite sayings which crossed over with his mantra somewhat. 'It is hard to listen to people with an open mouth and closed ears. You will always learn more if you let people speak and do not give away any indication of how you feel about what they are saying. When people are comfortable speaking to you sooner or later they will reveal their true character to you. It can also come out in anger. Their actions will confirm eventually what their mouth have said so be open to recognizing the signs when they appear.'

* * *

The Dursley family had finally reached an understanding that gave them both what they wanted. He did not harbor any animosity towards them, but he did not have any strong feelings for them either. They understood why he felt that way and never tried to force any unnecessary contact with him. They allowed him his independence once he kept them abreast of his whereabouts. They recognized that any attempts by them to have a more direct role in his life might rekindle the hatred that he had held against them.

They had agreed to take over caring for his garden in his absence and he had let his clientele know that he would be attending boarding school. He had informed them that Julian and Petunia would now be responsible for providing them with their weekly vegetable supply. They had all been understanding and had wished him well in his studies. The housewives had made sure that they gave him a five-pound note and Petra had worked up the courage to hug him and shyly wish him well.

He would continue to maintain the service until he departed at the end of the summer holiday. He had counted the money when he returned home and realized that he had gotten fifty pounds in total. He grinned in delight and placed the money inside his canvas wallet. He had now accumulated two hundred pounds after expenses from his vegetable garden and he was ecstatic.

Harry realized that he was emotionally stunted because of his life so far but meeting Julian had allowed him to start the healing process. He still had nightmares on occasion, but Julian had taught him to confront the issues when they appeared rather than ignoring them and allowing them to fester. If he was too upset or overwhelmed step away and process the situation when he was able to do so. He smiled as knew that he was healing and silently gave thanks for having a true friend walking into his life that day.

* * *

The morning of his birthday he had breakfast with Julian and Uncle Vic who prepared a large breakfast for him and in very bad singing voices croaked out the birthday song for him. Despite how his ears had protested the desecration of the song he had still felt overwhelmed with happiness and thankfulness for how much they had done to change his life in the space of a year. The door had almost broken as someone pounded hard on it before it opened suddenly and one the largest men Harry had ever seen squeezed through the door without an invitation.

Julian stepped in front of Harry to protect him and Uncle Vic stepped forward to demand an explanation for why he had broken into their home.

The man identified himself as Hagrid and the groundskeeper at Hogwarts. His voice was thick with a very strong accent and he explained that he was there to take Harry to do his school shopping. His hair surrounded his face like a thick bushy cloud and his mouth was almost completely covered with a thick mustache and beard which hung down to his chest. He was wearing what appeared to be a rough looking coat of animal skins stitched together and his head was almost touching the roof of the house. Neither Julian or Vic were impressed with his statement and Vic let him know in no uncertain manner that they were going to be taking Harry to do his shopping.

The mention of Harry caused Hagrid to look up and notice Harry peering around from behind Julian. He ignored Vic and boomed out loudly, "Hullo Harry. I aint seen you since I dropped you off at your aunt's house when you were but a babe."

Any potential for friendship died after that as Harry's face darkened and he tucked himself firmly behind Julian and ignored him.

Hagrid's face fell when he realized that Harry was not interested in speaking to him but when he looked fully at Julian his face darkened in anger as he shouted out, "You! You are the one who beat up the poor headmaster."

Julian grinned at him and replied, "Yes I did. He should be glad that is all he got for forcing his way into my house and attacking me like that."

Julian's words only seemed to enrage him more and Hagrid released a loud bellow and charged at him as if to tear him limb from limb only to suddenly come to sudden stop. The abrupt halt in progress shocked him from his rage and he looked down to see Vic holding a single hand against his chest that completely stopping his mad charge.

He blinked in shock and seemed to pause to take it in before he roared again and swung his fist wildly at Vic in a foolish attempt to continue trying to attack Julian. His hand was seized and twisted behind his back and he was easily dragged through the kitchen and into the backyard where he was tossed like a pile of rags onto the grass.

He was stunned at being manhandled so easily but remained on the ground after a sharp glare from Vic promised him a painful lesson if he moved.

Hagrid lay there on the ground in shock because he had never met anyone who was not a giant who could so easily overpower him. His eyes fell on Julian who had not displayed an ounce of fear even when he had started to rush at him.

Hagrid moved to sit up, gingerly feeling the pain in his arm while noticing that both men always stayed between Harry and him and he was kept under their gaze at all times. He was tempted to pull his pink umbrella from out of one of his coat pockets to try casting magic, but he remembered the warning Albus had given him that magic did not seem to work on the man that had beat him.

He was sullen but answered their questions about why he had forced his way into their house. He mumbled out, "Harry had not responded to the Hogwarts letter so Albus sent him to ensure he got it, in case he was being held against his will."

They snorted in unison at such a blatant attempt at manipulation and Harry coldly informed him that he had received the letter but that the owl had refused to wait for his response even when he had called out for it to stay.

Hagrid had looked puzzled at hearing that but had kept silent instead of providing an explanation or comment. He passed over Harry's vault key and informed them that he had something important to pick up for Dumbledore and walked around the house to leave after they informed him that Harry would not be going anywhere with him. He had pulled a traumatized looking owl out of his pocket and handed it to them and left hurriedly giving a wary look to Vic when he walked past him.

Harry was in shock after the confrontation because he was surprised at just how strong Vic was after he had seen a demonstration right before his eyes. Julian had not looked worried either and after he remembered the machetes he had seen Julian summon to his hands he had recognized why. He snorted darkly as he realized that Vic had probably saved Hagrid's life when he had stopped him in his tracks.

Harry was not sure how he felt about killing someone himself, but he believed in defending yourself when attacked and never giving an enemy a chance to attack you twice. His studying of human and wizarding history had made him aware of the danger presented to your loved one and yourself in showing mercy blindly to an enemy at your mercy. He had scoffed when he had read through accounts of the last wizarding war and seen how the light side had fought using only stunning and capture methods on the dark wizards.

The outcome of the war after the death of Voldemort had seen large numbers of light members dead very few members of the dark losing their lives. They were a few in Azkaban but most of them had bought their way out of prosecution and had used the excuse of being under the Imperious curse.

He knew that he would be attending Hogwarts with the children of both sides and the neutral families as well, but he would deal with everyone according to how they approached him. He had no plans on fighting with anyone if they left him alone and did not try to cause him harm.

He had repaired the door using his magic and had been able to reinforce both it and the doorjamb to ensure that they were stronger than before. Hagrid's knocking had nearly broken the door in half when they looked at the door afterwards. They sent off a letter tied to the owl's leg confirming his acceptance of the position at Hogwarts.

* * *

After cleaning up the house they locked up and jumped into Julian's 1985 Land Rover Defender and drove to Woking Railway Station, where they parked and purchased train tickets to Charing Cross Station. The trip took just over an hour and they made their way out of the station into the busy London streets. The walk to Charing Cross Road was a half mile hike which was made mostly in silence as Harry marveled at the hustle and bustle of London. The Leaky Cauldron did not impress any of them as the pub looked rundown and dirty from the outside. When they made their way inside the interior they found did not improve much when compared to the exterior. The entire place was dark, dirty with some wizards sitting around wearing robes with a few women and children present as well.

They approached the bartender sitting behind a long wooden counter with several dusty bottles on the shelves behind him who introduced himself as Tom. He made his way around the counter to let them into the Alley. He walked towards a brick wall in the small backyard, when he seemed to recognize Harry and opened his mouth in excitement, but a stern glare from Vic made him close his mouth abruptly before he could blurt out anything. He seemed to sense the danger of him doing so and quietly apologized in a sheepish manner.

The way how the bricks wiggled made Julian snort in amusement, but Harry stared open mouthed at the busy street that the opening showed him. The street was lined with shops on either side and a darkened alley that was relatively deserted compared to the street before them was off to their right about twenty feet away. A sign proclaimed it to be Knockturn Alley and it seemed dark and foreboding even with the sun shining down brightly.

A wizard wearing a dark cloak turned to walk down into the Alley but sneered at them when he noticed their mundane clothing. The look they gave him was dismissive and it seemed to rile him up because he made to draw his wand. The sudden appearance of the sharp machete in Julian's hand caused him to slowly move his hand away from his wand and walk swiftly into the alley.

Julian snorted, and they proceeded to walk toward the imposing white marble building at the end of the street separate from the shops and vendors. Vic fell into step beside them as he had paused to have a friendly conversation with the bartender to ensure that news of Harry's presence remained quiet. A hat was pulled down over his Harry's head and he kept his face pointed down as he walked.

Two goblins stood guard outside the building holding large axes that stood taller than them easily and wore gleaming silver armor with only their faces exposed. They grinned with their sharp pointy teeth showing at Harry's fascinated expression and nodded their heads in return to the greeting issued to them as the small group entered the building.

The inside of the building was larger than they expected with a line of goblin tellers behind tall counters over against one side of a wall and an ornate gold rope indicating where to line up for service. A small number of wizards waited in a queue to be served while an old minecart sat on a pair of tracks a few feet away from the tellers with a goblin standing beside it.

They were guards stationed evenly around the inside of the bank with a variety of weapons including spears, swords and even a sharp looking pair of what looked like the blend of a short sword with an axe at the end of it.

The other side of the bank contained a single door with a goblin sitting at a desk with a sign stating Account Managers over the door. They made their way over to the desk and greeted the goblin sitting there. He eyed them curiously until his eyes landed on Harry and he seemed to recognize him.

He stood to greet them when they arrived and spoke in a smooth voice introducing himself as Knifehands. He motioned to a guard who walked briskly over and told him to escort the group to the Potter manager. Vic politely declined joining them for the meeting, but Harry held firmly on to Julian not giving him a chance to decline as well. They both followed the guard who moved silently before them with not a single noise coming from his armor or his weapons. He stopped before a door that looked exactly like all the others around them and knocked briefly on it.

A rough voice was heard telling them to enter and they walked through the door into a simple office containing a stone desk and some comfortable looking chairs in front of it. The door closed automatically behind them without a sound. The goblin sitting behind the desk introduced himself as Scrooge Manager and passed an open portfolio across the desk to Harry as he invited them to sit. They sank into the chairs which proved to be as comfortable as they appeared.

He wasted no words and launched into the findings of the vault audit. Albus Dumbledore had attempted to access the Potter Vault to remove an heirloom from within but had been stopped when he tried to use his supposed role of being Harry's magical guardian as permission to do so. He had been visibly angry when he was denied but after the goblin guards reached for their weapons he had held his head high and walked out of the bank. He had also attempted to transfer money over to the Dursleys years ago but because he was not legally responsible for Harry he had been unable to access the vault. He had tried to use the might of the ministry to force them to allow them access but after they pointed out that this would breach the treaty and allow it to happen to other family's vaults, the ministry's support had dried up.

He summarized the findings and informed them both that the Potter family was incredibly wealthy, but Harry would only be allowed access to a trust vault filled with fifty thousand galleons in total and the Potter's Heir Ring to show his status as the heir to the Potter Family. The ring was enchanted to be worn according to his personal preference and would alert him to harmful magic or potions being used on him. Harry had thanked him for the update and the information and was preparing to leave after a quick glance through the portfolio before Scrooge stopped him.

His face was grave as he spoke to Harry in a very serious tone. "The Potter family was given the license as Enforcer to the wizarding world. They had the right to investigate and independently act to resolve wrongdoing or any crime within the wizarding world. They were given this license when there was no policing available and because they were known to be honest and fair. They also took a magical vow to act in accordance to with the laws of the wizarding world and to be impartial in performing their duties.

Large members of the family died over the years in a series of suspicious circumstances until finally your grandparents and your father were the only ones left. The birth of your father was a surprise to your grandparents, since they were having lots of problems conceiving over the years. They died before he reached the age of majority and he never was made aware of the full legacy of the Potters.

Albus Dumbledore was able to influence him and he never came to meet me or to receive information on the family estate. He was told that it was destroyed in the attack that killed the Potters, but it was rebuilt by us since the family had given permission to their account manager to make repairs or rebuild the structure if it was damaged. Albus convinced him that the goblins are bloodthirsty and not to be trusted. He even encouraged him into believing that because we were the ones who built the wards that we were indirectly responsible for his parent's deaths. He assigned Dumbledore to be his proxy in the Wizengamot and joined the Depart of Magic and Law Enforcement (DMLE). The DMLE was formed by the ministry to be able to exert control over the actions of their law enforcement personnel. The actions of the Potter family had affected both opposing factions of the wizarding community, and the remaining family members were upset as they were unable to use the law to punish them.

The wards that the Potters used were powered by a ward stone that had been slowly drained of power by the Death Eaters. The Potters had been unaware of this until the final large-scale attack had been launched. When they had attempted to feed magic into the ward stone to restore it to full power it was too late, and this combined with Voldemort leading the attack meant that they were overwhelmed. Their deaths had sent the estate into lockdown and the attempts to raid their home for access to their grimoires had been thwarted. Their library and the contents for their homes had been magically transported to their vaults.

They were a neutral family because of their role in the society and had equally prosecuted and brought to justice all wrongdoers without being open to bribes or influence. They had been resented and hated by both sides and we believe that the systematic destruction of the Potter family was done by both sides to remove them as a threat.

The license to the Potter family was revoked because there was no adult to perform their duty when your father died and he himself was unaware of their true history, as he did not learn of it from his parents before they died. This information was to be shared with all family members after their magical majority and when they were proven to be mature enough to handle the responsibility.

Harry sat back quietly in shock at learning that his family was basically killed off due to resentment against them for them holding the wizarding society accountable. He eventually got up quietly thanked Scrooge for the information and asked for access to his trust vault to obtain some galleons to go shopping with.

Scrooge handed him a leather pouch that was charmed to store one thousand galleons and would refill once it was emptied by the owner. It was enchanted to be feather-light and he showed him how to secure it with his magical signature and a blood recognition system. It would scan him for foreign magic or potions before allowing him to access the galleons. He also handed him a thick silver band covered in runes that resized itself into a bracelet as Harry did not like the feel of a ring on his finger.

Harry thanked him and exited the office with Julian beside him. They collected Vic and went directly to the store selling trunks. They were greeted with a large space with several trunks scattered all over the shop space. A bell on he counter was rung which summoned an ordinary looking middle-aged man wearing a plain black robe. He showed them the simple Hogwarts trunks and seemed surprised to see them show no interest at all in even looking at them.

Harry did not know if he would be able to access the grounds to exercise and he wished to keep up with his routine. He requested a trunk with five compartments for use as a library, to store potions ingredients, exercise, clothing and miscellaneous storage. He also wanted it secured with the strongest security possible. The man had stroked his beard absently and after a few moments asked how big an area did he need for the exercise. His eyebrows had raised at the mention of a mile-long area but had explained that it would have to be done in circuit form because of power limitations of maintaining the integrity of the trunk. He also asked for confirmation of his ability to pay before he started work on the order.

He smiled after seeing the Gringotts pouch and confirmed the price as five hundred galleons. When Harry nodded in agreement at the price they were told to return in an hour's time to collect it. He asked if there was any preference in the color or design and Harry shrugged and requested a dark gray trunk with royal blue straps and a gray leather handle. He noted down the information on a piece of parchment and ignored them as he selected a trunk and went to work.

They exited the store and proceeded over to a shop with a sign above that read Ollivander's Wands and faded numbers beside it. The store inside was dusty and behind a counter were large stacks of thin boxes. Julian went to ring the bell but instead paused briefly and turned to stare into the dark corner opposite them.

An old man with spindly limbs stepped out and peered curiously at Julian and Vic before turning to Harry. He launched into a spiel about Harry's mother and father's wands and spoke about how the wand chose the wizard. Harry was convinced that the man was mentally unstable, and his silver eyes seemed to glint in a way that suggested that he was not far off in his diagnosis.

He selected a box seemingly at random and handed Harry a wand that he identified as being made of ash with a dragon heartstring. The wand vibrated in his hand and shot a bolt of lightning at Mr. Ollivander which caused him to duck hurriedly. All the subsequent wands after that launched some form of attack against him resulting in a very flustered old man. He finally just sighed and asked Harry to stretch out his magic to the remaining wands to see which one selected him.

Harry mentally directed his magic to form a thick string and extended it to the wall of wands. It was quickly drawn to a box high up on the top shelf. A wand jumped out of the box and wrapped itself up with the string of magic and shot into Harry's hand. Mr. Ollivander identified it as a wand made of oak wood with a griffin wing feather as a core. It was fourteen inches long and turned from a yellow brown color to a royal blue in Harry's hand. It hummed briefly but did not emit anything which seemed to surprise Mr. Ollivander.

He explained that the wand was suited to charms, transfiguration and Defense against the Dark Arts. The color change was just the wand adjusting to his preference for color as it seemed eager to adapt to his magic.

The visit to the bookstore was brief as the bookstore kept the Hogwarts books packaged together for convenience and stored them beside the register. Harry already had the books that the goblins had provided which covered the information more thoroughly than any of the books on his list.

He struggled not to scowl when he realized just how silly the robes looked but laughed along with Julian and Vic when they pointed out that he could wear his preferred clothing underneath for comfort. He asked for his robes to be made from acromantula silk and ordered a pair of dragon leather shoes to wear with them. The shoes were surprisingly comfortable and even Julian and Vic got a pair for themselves.

The potions store was just disgusting and further turned Harry's mind against the subject just because of the awful smell of the ingredients and how disgusting some of them were. He shuddered as he looked at the creepy looking bottles all over the store and quickly paid for his supplies. He grumbled as Julian made him buy two extra sets to ensure that he had enough to practice before school started. Julian was concerned at how potentially dangerous the discipline was, so he wanted to ensure Harry was as proficient as possible before school. They bought three cauldrons as a precaution and to avoid having to return to Diagon Alley more than was necessary. While he did like the potential of magic he did not like crowds and he was still wary of the wizarding world.

They exited the apothecary and walked towards the shop selling enchanted items to purchase the telescope for astronomy. They were not impressed with the way how things were strewn about but Harry purchased two telescopes and a variety of knickknacks to experiment with. He was surprised to see an owl order catalogue and realized that he could avoid shopping by using this service. When he queried the store owner he was shocked to realize that most of the stores were listed inside the catalogue and he could send an owl with instructions to arrange purchase or delivery if the item was too big or would be dangerous to shrink down using magic. He collected the catalogue and purchased a mokeskin pouch as well which could only be opened by the owner once it had been set up to do so.

He placed his purchases into the bag which was enchanted to be larger on the inside and would come to his hand when he mentally commanded his magic to summon the item he desired.

He left the shop and looked over to a store that seemed to sell a variety of magical pets and walked inside alone as the smell and the noise bothered Julian and Vic. He saw several different birds along one side of the store and some were loose and flying around. He ignored them for the moment and looked around for assistance. He saw a harried looking witch feeding some dangerous looking lizards who fought viciously over a large plate of meat she had placed in their glass cage. She smiled at him and came over to assist him.

The space was crammed with animals, and he absently wondered why the shop owner did not magically expand the space to avoid the clutter.

He asked for a pair of mating owls to deliver post and to collect deliveries as well. He also wanted them to be able to blend in easily. She directed him towards the tawny owls as these were the most common and native to England. She presented him with the only mating pair present in a large cage which he opened to let them out. They flew around the store and landed gently on each shoulder as they both regarded him and hooted once each before going silent. He asked them to fly to his home and he would meet them back there when he finished shopping. They took flight and headed out the door together and took to the skies.

She shrugged her shoulders at his actions and charged him twenty galleons for the pair and the cage. He asked for two perches instead and a selection of treats to feed them. She gave him a box containing the treats and he paid an additional five galleons for them and placed them in his pouch.

He went outside to find Julian and Vic chatting comfortably ignoring the occasional glares thrown at them for their mundane attire. They went to the trunk store to collect his order and he paid the owner and admired his trunk. It was two feet deep and four feet wide. He watched as the wizard showed him how to use a small key ring with five keys to open each section. The trunk would cycle between them according to which key he used, and a step formed outside the trunk when he opened the exercise section.

Standing on the step would transport him down inside to the area which he found to contain a raised section of earth with rocks interspersed throughout and a path that weaved though it which could be changed according to his magical capacity. The less magic he used with the control panel set against the wall the simpler the terrain would be with increasing features appearing according to the level of magic used.

Harry was impressed and decided to test it by pulsing as much magic as he used to keep an item floating for fifteen minutes. The terrain rumbled and adjusted to become filled with small sandy mounds and a desert environment. The control panel could only be operated by him and would not allow changes if the course was in use.

They exited the trunk and Harry paid the man and thanked him for the work done. The wizard who introduced himself as Marvin Greengrass nodded his head in thanks and showed him the additional feature of the trunk which allowed it to be shrunk and placed into his pocket by tapping it with his wand. Harry thanked him profusely for that addition as he had had not thought to request it. He tapped his wand against the trunk and bent down to pick up the matchbox sized object from the floor after it rapidly shrunk. They exited the shop with all their purchases and exited through the Leaky Cauldron into London.

They stopped to purchase some Chinese food for lunch before they set out to outfit him with new clothing, underwear and two pairs of trainers to exercise in as his growth over the last year had started to make his old clothes struggle to accommodate his new measurements.

Harry had forgotten to obtain mundane money from the goblin bank, but Julian covered the costs and dismissed his attempts to repay him. Julian told him that the Dursleys had given him the money to purchase them and it was a goodwill gesture on their part as their gift to him for going off to school.

* * *

They returned home in the evening time as they had taken the time to take him around to see the various stores and he had purchased a fine pair of fountain pens to use instead of the quills which the wizarding world preferred. He also purchased many notebooks for his personal use.

He realized that he had forgotten to but parchment and quills, but Julian assured him that while they were waiting outside for him they had finished up acquiring the last of his school shopping list. He thanked them profusely for taking him shopping and for being the family he never had.

They patted him on the back and reassured him that it was not a problem and that they saw him in the same light.

He fell asleep that night with a large smile on his face.

The rest of the summer before the school term started was spent bonding with his new owls which he had named Bob and Bertha. They had turned to look at him when he had given them the new names for a moment and then hooted in what seemed like resignation before accepting the new names. They enjoyed the perches and spent much of their time sleeping or hunting unless they were interacting with him. He had experimented with extending his magic to them and after they became more trusting to him they had accepted the magic.

He had noticed that they increased slightly in size after they accepted his magic and they were faster and stronger than before. They could also vary the sharpness of their talons as he witnessed them leaving long bloody and deep marks in a cat that tried to attack them but when they had landed on his shoulders, he had not felt any discomfort from their talons. They also responded to his mental call when he summoned them even if they were far away hunting.

He had started working on Potions with Julian supervising him and had become proficient at following the instructions. He noted that the way how the ingredients were prepared affected the quality of the potion, but he did not grow to love the subject. He could follow instructions easily but the ability to make changes or to sense how to adjust to improve the quality did not come to him naturally.

He was thankful that Julian had been there because on more than one occasion Julian had saved him from an explosion or worse by seizing the cauldron when it had started to shake and the mixture inside had immediately subsided but had had to be thrown away afterwards as it was just turned into a harmless sludge afterwards. They had noted that the sludge was very good at fertilizing plants, as anything that it had landed on grew larger overnight and would be noticeably lusher and greener. He practiced with the first-year spells ad became proficient with them as his magic worked much easier using the wand and his transfiguration improved drastically. Apparently, the control that the wand afforded him made the difference in changing the objects a lot easier.

His magic use became more refined and faster with practice and he worked to increase the speed of casting his magic and then performing the same magic without it. It was difficult initially, especially the transfiguration but slowly he became proficient at wandless magic with practice. It was easier to place his hand on the object to perform but over the next few weeks he learned to extend the string of magic from his hand with the intent already present to perform the same tasks without his wand.

The visualization that using the words out loud trained helped him to understand and perform the tasks at first. He was able to mentally repeat the spells inside his head towards the end of the summer to perform the same tasks. He had noted that the spells were not as strong without the verbal command but had been able to break down that his intent mattered when it came to performing magic. The mental visualization that the vocalization trained helped to train the wizard to perform the magic until their minds could perform it subconsciously without relying on shouting it out.

He read through the compilation of history that Julian had put together as well for him and found it to be extremely useful. The information on the muggle-born origins was concerning to him and their inability to find employment was hidden from them.

He would try to find allies among them to assist him in completing his objectives. He realized that he wanted to form a separate society of like-minded individuals who would not bring their prejudices with them and that allowed equal opportunities based on skill and ambition.

He sat back and contemplated that he would need to find a location that would allow for this new community to form as the corrupt nature of the English wizarding world would not support such an endeavor.

He had spoken of it to Julian who had supported the idea and promised to do some research to assist him in completing his goal.

He was thankful that he had been supported in his objective by his friend and resolved to work hard towards putting a proper foundation for making a difference in the world where he could.

The morning dawned for his departure and he woke up feeling calm and relaxed. He prepared himself with extra care and attention to his appearance. He ate breakfast with the Dursleys who wished him well at his new school.

Petunia had spent lots of time discussing with him what she remembered of his mother's time at the school and he had gleaned a great insight into who she was. He had also heard of the toxic relation that had developed due to her jealousy at now having magic but her relief afterwards after hearing how they treated muggle-born wizards from him and Julian.

She had finally let go of her negative emotions after hearing that and had mourned her sister's fate in living in such a hostile environment. Julian had to go to work so Vernon had been the one to take him to the train station. He had dressed simply in dark gray trousers and a long-sleeved shirt. He had instructed Bob and Bertha to fly to the school and they had departed soaring high and fast in the direction of Scotland.

Vernon had walked him into the station and had shook his hand before wishing him good luck and bidding him goodbye until the end of the term. He had arrived an hour early and made his way through the wall that had pulsed with magic which he was now very sensitive to because of all the practice he had done.

* * *

The platform was relatively deserted, and he boarded the large red train and sought out an empty compartment near the middle of the train and sat down facing the platform. He leaned back to relax in the seat and observed silently. He noticed how the large fireplace situated in the middle of the platform discharged several wizards and witches the closer it got to eleven. He saw how many of them also apparated in and greeted and interacted with certain family while completely ignoring others. They looked exactly like any ordinary family he would see dropping off their children at school except for the archaic fashions and the clear displays of magic they performed. He noted the distance between who were clearly muggle-born and the pureblood. He saw it all and mentally noted faces and facial expressions. He saw several students walk past his compartment door who laughed and talked as they walked past. A few waved to him to him kindly and noted his attire signaling him as a first year. The older students all wore robes bearing the stripes and crests of their houses.

His hair was worn long and covered his forehead hiding his eyes unless he looked up to make eye contact. He had placed his robes beside him on the bench as he had no desire to wear it any sooner that necessary. His door was opened ten minutes before the train departed and a young girl with bushy hair and two slightly large front teeth asked shyly if they could share the compartment with him.

He looked up into her face and saw how nervous she was and got up quickly to invite her and a plump youth who hid behind her inside. She introduced herself as Hermione Granger and a shy hesitant voice from her companion introduced himself as Neville Longbottom.

He introduced himself as Harry Potter to their shock but had to stop Hermione from launching into what threatened to be a long and excited speech judging from the expression on her face. He pointed that the books printed about his childhood adventures were all false and that most of what he had read about himself was false and deliberately ignored the role his parents must have played in defeating Voldemort that night. Hermione paused to digest his words and Neville gazed at him with an undecipherable look.

He seemed to understand what Harry was trying to say and nodded quietly in his direction. The train eventually lurched and then started to accelerate out of the station and Harry looked through the window while Hermione found her voice.

She finally sat forward and asked why the books would print information that was wrong with a shocked expression on her face.

Harry smiled sadly as he realized that his response would have to be gentle and to allow her to find out the truth for herself. He explained the negative attitudes towards muggle-born witches and wizards and that his mother was a muggle-born. He went on further to explain that giving credit to his mother Lily would have meant admitting that a muggle-born witch had helped to defeat a Dark Lord who had thoroughly rampaged unopposed through the wizarding world.

She stared at Neville in shock who nodded his head to confirm what Harry had said and the harsh words towards her that had cause them both to leave their previous compartment started to make sense. She had been isolated because of her intelligence at her previous school and had drifted towards the teachers when the students ignored or insulted her because of it.

She had found solace in books and the recognition that she received for demonstrating her intelligence and had hoped that the magical world would allow her to make a new beginning and form new friendships.

The idea of what equated to racial prejudice within this community rocked her hopes. Neville spoke up to assure in a firm tone that it was not the entire wizarding world that shared those beliefs but the older families and those belonging to the dark faction were major believers in this mindset. He spoke to her of the different factions and their political stance and she went silent for a few moments digesting this new information.

The door was thrown open by a tall thin red-headed boy who looked quickly around the compartment as if searching for someone. He stared at a picture in his hand and not seeing who he searched for he continued his search without speaking to anyone.

Harry snorted to himself because it was an artist's rendition of what he should look like that he had seen on the cover of the books in the Flourish and Botts bookstore. He sat back only to open his eyes again when the door was thrown open again.

A young boy with his hair a pale blonde and wearing some obviously expensive robes sauntered into the compartment. He cast a dismissive gaze at Neville and sneered openly at Hermione. She had stood to introduce herself but after seeing his sneer sat back down and opened a book ignoring him.

This seemed to anger him, and he visibly had to shake himself from whatever course of action he had planned on taking with an obvious effort. He turned towards Harry and noted his black messy hair and emerald green eyes that had met his calmly and coolly and introduced himself.

"My name is Draco Malfoy, heir of House Malfoy. Welcome to the wizarding world heir Potter. I would like to extend to you an offer to guide you into acclimatizing back into our world and introducing you to the right families to make your transition easier." He spoke in a formal tone and completely ignored Hermione and Neville and reached out his hand for Harry to take.

Harry stood and kept his face blank and responded in a smooth formal tone.

"I acknowledge your welcome Heir Malfoy, but I am happy to make my own way in the wizarding world and any challenges that this may cause I will accept them as they come."

He completely ignored the outstretched hand before him as to take it was to show acceptance of the offer, and trust in the person making it. He was not impressed by what he had seen from Malfoy so far and his cold expression after hearing the polite refusal confirmed his opinion. He sneered openly at Harry and spun around and left the compartment.

Harry shrugged and sat back down only to see Neville watching him with a serious expression and Hermione looking at him with a curious one.

He grinned at them and explained that he was by nature a loner and everything about Malfoy had screamed at him that they would not get along. They both relaxed and spoke of the houses and their preferences for choices when they arrived.

* * *

Harry shocked them by plainly stating his choice for Ravenclaw. He had read of the vicious rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin and he wanted none of it. Hermione spoke of her desire for Gryffindor because of meeting the Deputy Headmistress but after hearing about the rivalry she was thinking Ravenclaw would be preferable. Neville wanted Gryffindor because he wanted to show everyone how brave he was.

When they prompted him as to the reason why he launched into the story of how his family had feared that he was a squib and the various trials he endured as they tried to force accidental magic from him. After his magic had finally responded the last time to save his life they had finally accepted him but mostly ignored him. They did not believe that he would ever amount to much and expected him to be a Hufflepuff.

They listened quietly horrified at the lengths magical families would go to verify that their children had magic then both reached out to comfort him.

Hermione was shocked at the broader picture she was starting to see of the wizarding world that did not coincide with the one that Professor McGonagall had painted to her family. She asked Harry where he had been able to find this information and he told her that he could provide access to the books he had but she could not be seen with them or they would be confiscated.

He would have to plan with her to ensure that she could read them without being observed. She nodded and sat back closed her eyes as the train continued its journey to Hogwarts. Neville was also quiet as he contemplated the possibility of making friends who did not ignore him as his family had done. He had spent lots of time in the greenhouses teaching himself about herbology first hand and had grown accustomed to the company of plants so spending time with other children was new to him.

He drifted off to sleep as the train swiftly made its way toward Hogwarts with a warmth in his chest that he would later realize was hope.

* * *

 _ **Cutting it off here because this is where I am comfortable closing it. The arrival and the sorting ceremony and as much as I can manage will be in the next chapter. I am trying to allow the story to flow naturally for me and this is the format that I am comfortable with. I am not going to be trying to write out accents as the red and blue lines that Word uses to show corrections annoy me greatly. I guess I am mildly OCD when it comes to certain things. I thank each and everyone who takes the time to read my work and I appreciate the acknowledgment that is shared.**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**In my story Harry hates being touched and being the center of attention, he accepts that he is somewhat broken because of his experiences and is allowing himself to heal naturally. He is not incapable of being manipulated but will always seek to make his own path when he recognizes it being used on him. He does not have a hero complex and will never accept the role of Savior that the wizarding world will try to attach to him.**_

Harry slowly awoke and felt slightly disconcerted before remembering where he was, he tilted his head and peered through the window of the rapidly moving train as his eyes slowly focused and was met with a beautiful early evening sky. He stood up and stretched slowly before sinking back down onto the surprisingly comfortable bench. As he sat back, he observed Hermione sitting back quietly on the bench beside him and staring at the ceiling seemingly lost in thought. She met his sleepy gaze with a soft smile on her face with her bushy brown hair surrounding her face like a halo. Their movements served to startle Neville who jumped awake with a jerky movement and looked around quickly in a slight panic before recognizing them and his shoulders slumped slightly in relief.

Hermione and Harry both noted his awkwardness and drew him into a conversation about the house system, which seemed to be a great choice as he joined in with a grateful smile. Their eyes met briefly and they both nodded silently, acknowledging that it would be best not to confront Neville about his childhood.

Hermione stood up suddenly as she noted the time and indicated to Harry that he should put on his robes, to which he shrugged and stood to slip it over his shoulders after retrieving it from his trunk. He was amazed at how good the spider silk felt against his skin and how strong it was as he tried stretching and attempting to rip it.

'Magic truly made a difference when it was applied to ordinary materials,' he mused.

They discussed the merits of Hufflepuff versus Ravenclaw and comparing the value of intelligence to that of loyalty and hard work. Hermione was about to make a point when they heard a noise outside the door which drew their combined gaze as they all turned towards it.

The door opened slowly and a small mature woman with a warm smile, a deeply wrinkled face and kind eyes stepped in and inquired, "Anything off the trolley dears?"

Harry stood up and gave her a polite smile and moved to look at the selections on offer, he selected several of the chocolate frogs while Neville got a wider selection including licorice wands, magical toffees and mints as well as some chocolate frogs. Hermione gave a brief longing look at the selections but declined to buy anything citing her parents being dentists and having to avoid sweets.

They both shrugged and sat down after the trolley left their compartment. Harry passed her a chocolate frog despite her protestations and reminded her that to enjoy life meant being willing to try new things even if it meant stepping outside of her comfort zone. Hermione struggled briefly before she hesitantly opened the package, the struggling chocolate frog gave her a little pause as her hands shot out and grabbed it staring at as if trying to analyse it thoroughly before she bit down into the chocolate and her entire body went still. Her head remained bowed with her hair falling over her face, but her eyes shot open when the taste and texture of the chocolate registered upon her palate.

Harry grinned to himself as he and Neville watched in fascination as she demolished the remainder of the chocolate frog. Harry smiled at her as she lifted her eyes and stared at him in the throes of the oralgasmic experience that chocolate had given her. She sat back and closed her eyes just relishing the experience and Harry left her lost in a mental haze, as he understood what she was going through. Eating with Julian had exposed him to lots of different flavors and textures and his favorite one so far was peppers, once it was hot he loved it more.

Neville gave a questioning look to Harry who just laughed and said to him, "Sometimes in life we come across a food or experience which we enjoy so much that it can become overpowering to our senses. Hermione has probably never been allowed to try anything sweet or any type of chocolate before, so it is overwhelming to her senses. She is mentally cataloging the experience and will either become obsessed with chocolate, swear it off completely or she will relegate it to a treat for herself on special occasions."

Neville looked at him askance, then quickly glanced over at Hermione who indeed seemed to be processing the chocolate experience mentally, with a blissful expression on her face as she leaned back in a boneless manner on the seat. Harry distracted him with conversation as after about fifteen minutes Hermione sat up, shuddered slightly before reentering the conversation with them.

She smiled at Neville's wary expression and responded to Harry's observation which she had registered but did not feel the need to respond at the same time with a short comment of, "Special treat."

Neville nodded silently as he did not have much experience interacting with other people in his age range, so he had no frame of reference for these new types of interactions.

Hermione clarified for him as he still seemed puzzled, "The taste and texture are wonderful, and it is something that I will enjoy in moderation, but too much of it and it will dull the experience. I can understand why my parents kept me away from sweet things now because I know I can be a bit obsessive when I like something, and I would have overwhelmed and annoyed them by constantly requesting sweets or chocolate."

She gave a last longing look at the remaining chocolate frogs before shaking herself and turned away from them with a bit of effort. Harry and Neville noted her struggle and made a mental note that chocolate was a viable option to appease or bribe her if she was upset or downhearted.

Harry began quizzing Neville on his experiences in the wizarding world with Hermione eagerly joining in the conversation.

They learned of his love for Herbology and his slight fear that he might not be able to do well at Hogwarts, and his resolve to prove for himself that he was worthy of magic and to become someone great.

Harry sat silently with his head bowed and shaking slightly but when he raised his head his intense gaze shocked Neville as well as the amount of anger present in his voice when he spoke.

"Neville, I believe that you can be whoever you want to be as long as you are willing to work towards it. I had some bad experiences growing up but one day I reached my breaking point and I chose a new path forward. I met a friend that day that stepped in and helped me without looking for or demanding anything in return. He listened to me when I ranted and gave advice as necessary to me but always encouraged me to choose my own path. He always encouraged me to chart my own path forward and I will be forever grateful for meeting him that day, because of his intervention I decided that I will not live my life trying to please anyone. I will take responsibility for my own future, I will let no one stop me from achieving my goals and I will give no place in my life to those who will seek to undermine or destroy me."

The serious look on his face and the conviction in his voice surprised both Neville and Hermione as they both sensed that something bad and significant had happened to him. Both had their own childhood issues, so they respected his privacy and did not push for more details.

Neville remembered the first time he had gone to see his parents. He had been around five years old and had kept asking his grandmother for them. She had finally gotten fed up and took him the next day to St Mungos Hospital, where he had been led into the room to see his mom sitting in a chair. He had broken away from his grandmother and run towards her in excitement, only to be met with a vacant gaze that looked straight through him with no recognition on her face. His father lay drooling on a bed with his eyes closed murmuring to himself.

He had cried that day in the hospital room with his grandmother standing stiffly behind him, silent and making no attempt to comfort or reassure him. The visits became a monthly occurrence and he kept hoping that they would eventually recognize him or get better. That day never came, and he always returned home to a cold, sterile environment with a grandmother who was always comparing him to his father, with him always falling short in her eyes. She had done nothing to stop her brother from trying to force him into displaying accidental magic, and he had never cried out to her for help after the first incident. He despised Uncle Algie and sometimes her as well, but he was also afraid of her, so he just withdrew into himself and spent most of his time in the greenhouse.

The plants never judged him, and he could easily tell what was working and what was not. She also left him alone when he was there, and he enjoyed the tranquility the environment provided. She had given him his father's wand to take to Hogwarts, but he had snuck away in Diagon Alley when she had taken him shopping for his school supplies, and bought his own wand from Ollivander's Wand Shoppe when she had been distracted by chatting with an elderly witch outside the bookstore.

The number of sparks that had poured out of the wand had surprised him and Mr. Ollivander, if his expression was anything to go by. He had hidden it in his robe pocket and had slid back into the book store just before she had wrapped up her conversation. The disappointed look she had given him had not been a surprise, but his returned carefully blank expression had made her pause briefly before she shrugged it off and summoned an elf to take their purchases home.

These memories had swamped him after hearing Harry's speech and had made him realize that he was not alone with his horrible childhood experiences. At this moment his decision was made that he would push himself to be the best that he could be and always strive to make his mark in the world. He stood up resolutely and faced Harry with his head held high and in a steady voice greeted Harry in the formal manner of the wizarding world.

"My name is Neville Longbottom, heir of House Longbottom. I offer friendly relations freely to you Heir Potter without condition and pledge to assist you in any way that I can."

Harry stood as well and replied in an equally formal manner, "Well met Heir Longbottom. Your offer is appreciated and accepted."

They both reached out their right arms and clasped them together firmly with a faint glow of magic surrounding them. They both turned to Hermione who was staring at them in shock not having expected the formal offer and acceptance of it.

They both turned to her and offered their hands to her in silent invitation to join the agreement with them. She stood and tried to imitate their formal manner as she held both of their hands and accepted their unspoken offer of assistance which caused a brighter glow to surround them.

They sat down and finally she could not hold back her questions.

 _What was that glow just now?_

 _What does it mean?_

 _How does this affect us going forward?_

Harry grinned slyly and told her that she was now married to them both. She gaped at him in shock only then noticing both of their mouths twitching as they tried to hold back their laughter.

She giggled as she realized that they were joking with her and listened intently as they explained that the glow was to indicate that magic had accepted their vow. It was a statement of intent to assist each other without any hidden obligations and that they would offer friendship freely to each other without ulterior motives.

She blinked back the tears that appeared in her eyes and leapt at them to hug them tightly. They were both hesitant at first, but they slowly hugged her back before they broke apart. Neither of them was accustomed to much physical contact after all. They spent the rest of the journey talking about their different interests and getting to know each other better.

Neville was surprised to find out that Harry had an interest in agriculture and they were both surprised at just how much knowledge Hermione had picked up on it just from reading. Harry had smiled at her and repeated some advice that he got from Julian.

"The acquisition of knowledge is a useful thing, but it is far better to know how and more importantly, when to use it. We will ensure that you get to apply that knowledge that you have stored up in there," he said tapping her head lightly.

She smiled as it felt good to have met two people who showed genuine interest in her and did not poke fun at her for her intelligence. Neville and Harry continued to chat while she mused, and both looked up when they heard the overhead announcement instructing them to leave their luggage in the cabins, and to make sure to be ready in their uniforms when the train stopped.

Harry shrugged and removed his trunk from his pocket and tapped it with his wand to return it to normal size. They both looked at him in surprise while he cheekily smiled and said, "Magic."

They both snorted and got up when the train finally rolled to a stop. The number of students milling around in the hallway convinced them to sit down while they waited for the crowd to ease up, as most of their fellow students all tried to disembark at the same time. When they saw that the crowd had lessened outside the compartment they made their way through the door and spotted the milling group of first years like themselves grouped together and looking around for directions.

They heard a booming voice over the noise of their fellow students, "First years over her, first years over here."

The group of children were apprehensive and wary of the very tall and large man who turned out to be Hagrid, but the prefects assured them that it was normal for them to be escorted to the castle separately. They hesitantly followed him with his lantern as he held down a dark sloped path with his lantern held aloft. The path proved to be slippery, but thankfully no one fell or were injured in the dim light.

The end of the path brought them to an inlet at the lakes edge where several small boats bobbed in the water, which they were instructed to get into, not exceeding four per boat. The boats did not look very sturdy but after they noticed that Hagrid's weight was easily accommodated when he stepped into one, the first year students shrugged and carefully got into the remaining boats.

When everyone was seated, Hagrid tapped his boat with a pink umbrella and which caused the boats to jerk into motion and then move slowly across the lake with his leading the way.

They passed beneath a bridge with numerous vines trailing down from it and gasped in awe at the brightly lit castle that they were approaching as it stood proud and tall with all the windows lit up as if in welcome.

The castle was huge, and Harry counted seven floors with tall towers at each corner of the castle. He could feel the magic pouring off the castle and how it washed over them giving a sense of welcome and as if to reassure them. He shuddered as the wave of magic hit but noticed as he looked around that no one else seemed to register it as he had.

Their boats finally pulled up at a landing and they carefully disembarked as none of them wished to fall into the frigidly cold and dark water. Harry could have sworn that he saw things moving around under the surface and he shuddered slightly at the thought. Hagrid then led them up a long flight of stone steps before reaching a large landing and strode purposefully towards two massive wooden doors that easily dwarfed him in height. The wood was intricately carved into fascinating patterns of strange symbols which Harry did not recognize.

They seemed to pulse briefly as Hagrid raised his large fist and knocked loudly, while they waited anxiously before hearing footsteps approaching and stop on the other side of the door, it opened slowly, and a tall witch wearing dark robes with a stern expression on her face stepped out to welcome them inside. She introduced herself as Professor McGonagall, Deputy headmistress of Hogwarts with a stern businesslike expression on her face and she led them into a waiting area, instructing them to remain there quietly while she left to reenter the Great Hall to announce them.

The absence of supervision caused them to break into small groups and start whispered conversations with each other, only for some of the young students to burst out screaming when several ghosts floated through the walls. Harry had not previously been aware of the presence of ghosts in the magical world, so he was as surprised as the rest of the children. He was curious about how they came to exist though and made a mental note to himself to do some research on their origins. Hermione started muttering spells to herself as the wait stretched on and Harry distracted her with the stories of his agricultural and money-making adventures in his neighborhood. She calmed down, as his distraction attempt worked and Neville paid keen interest to the story as well.

Professor McGonagall stepped back out to collect them and gave a stern glare at the elevated noise level, which quietened them slightly, before she led them into the Great Hall. The ceiling above showed the starry night sky and four large rectangular tables were spaced evenly around the hall with a large table where the teachers sat set against the wall opposite to the door they entered. Sitting in the middle of the table on a large golden throne was Albus Dumbledore who smiled as he surveyed the new students.

Harry noted that his robes were magenta and covered in some design that shone and swirled under the lights in the hall. He snorted as it was clear to him that the Headmaster was obviously not afraid to stand out and he noted the symbolism of the throne which seemed to be lost to most of his fellow first years. The combination of clothing and the elevated position of the throne told him that he held himself separate and above the entire school.

He turned back towards Professor McGonagall as she placed a wooden stool down on the floor between the tables, then placed a hat that suddenly appeared in her hand upon the stool before turning to face them. The hat seemed to quiver and shake before it formed a mouth and started singing worse than Julian and Vic, to Harry's surprise. It proceeded to identify the four houses and their traits and then invited them to be sorted in one of the most horrible attempts at music that he had ever had the misfortune to hear.

Harry listened to the student's names being called out in alphabetical order and clapped politely as the students made their way forward. He clapped politely and briefly after each student was sorted, noticing that Slytherin students were only applauded by the teachers and members of their house. He sensed someone was glaring at him from the teacher's table but when he looked over there he noticed that no one was looking directly at him.

* * *

 **Teachers Perspective**

If he had kept his eyes on the teachers table, he would have noticed that the headmaster and a dour and sour faced man with greasy hair returned to observing him when he turned back his attention to the sorting. The headmaster's gaze was puzzled as he was unsure as to how to approach the boy after the sequence of events which ended in him and Hagrid being dispatched from the neighborhood. He had attempted to return during the summer to speak to Mrs. Figg, but the presence of magical wards stronger than he had ever observed outside of Gringotts, rendered his attempts to cast the disillusionment spell consistently failing. He had been forced to transfigure his robes into a pink plaid suit and a red top hat before making his way to the house of Arabella Figg. He remembered with a smile the envious looks that the people he passed had given him as he strode purposefully to her door.

He had only been able to find out from her that Harry spent lots of time between the homes of Petunia and his new neighbor and she was no longer needed to babysit him. She spent the remainder of time speaking about the changes in the Dursley's treatment towards Harry, which made him hide a wince as he had never realized that the compulsion charm that he had placed on the letter had horrifically backfired.

He had never returned to the neighborhood since he had left Harry on the doorstep, and he had cast the charm on the letter he had left for Petunia and her husband, to be very strict with him and to instill a strong work ethic. He mused to himself that he had been very distracted that night but dismissed any feelings of guilt as he believed that some adversity helped to build character.

Severus Snape was the potions professor of Hogwarts magical school and he hated teaching with a passion only matched by his hatred for James Potter. He had easily spotted Harry Potter when he walked in and had immediately hated him when he saw James Potter's hair and the strong resemblance on his spawn. He scowled as his memories of being tormented by the Marauders during his school days popped into his head before he wrestled them back using his occlumency. He vowed to ensure that Harry received some of the torment that his father had dished out to him.

* * *

 **Return to normal POV**

He looked away deciding to ignore it and then he heard the deputy headmistress announce, "Granger Hermione."

He gave her a reassuring pat on the back and she stepped forward taking a deep breath and sat carefully on the stool with the hat sinking down over her head. It sang out "Hufflepuff," as her robes gained a black and yellow trim and a large crest appeared on the back of the robes with a smaller one on the front.

She nodded her head at them both and made her way to the Hufflepuff table to polite applause. He noticed a brief look of disappointment at the house choice by Professor McGonagall.

He heard Neville's name called and gave him a firm nod as Neville stepped cautiously forward to sit down on the stool and the Hat was placed upon his head. A few moments later the hat announced Hufflepuff once more and his robes changed to reflect his new house. He stepped confidently over to the Hufflepuff table and sat down beside Hermione who welcomed him with a smile. He nodded towards them while the sorting continued. He watched Malfoy be called forward and before the hat could touch his head properly it screamed out Slytherin.

Draco strutted proudly over to the Slytherin table as the students at the table clapped politely. The students of Slytherin house almost always kept their faces blank he noticed, as they did not give any outward emotional response to any of the sorting.

The Hufflepuffs were warmer but they also stayed somewhat muted. The Ravenclaws seemed to meet a midpoint between the two houses while Gryffindor was loud and boisterous much to the chagrin of Professor McGonagall no matter who was sorted. Her stern glares were somewhat effective in silencing them but two red-headed twins sitting there continued celebrating unconcerned.

When his name was called the entire hall broke out in murmuring and whispers. He ignored them and calmly say down on the stool as the hat was placed over his head.

The hat spoke to him in a surprisingly deep voice, "Hmmm, you appear to be very brave young man and ambitious as well. Gryffindor and Slytherin will serve you well. Oh, and very intelligent as well. Perhaps Ravenclaw."

Harry firmly stated, "Hufflepuff," in reply to the hat. The hat paused before testing him with a question, "You have the quality of hard work, but can you give out your loyalty easily?"

Harry sharply responded, "Only a fool will give his loyalty blindly and mine is reserved for those who earn it."

The hat paused and then responded, "Well said Mr. Potter. Well said."

The hat announced loudly to the hall, "Hufflepuff."

The entire hall erupted in cries of surprise, joy from the Hufflepuffs mixed in with some angry and disappointed voices as he walked quietly over to the Hufflepuff table to join Neville and Hermione, who made space for him to sit down with them. He greeted the rest of the table politely but rebuffed any attempts at questioning him. The attempts quickly stopped as he refused to respond to anything beyond a greeting. He exchanged polite greetings, but they eventually realized Harry Potter was not going to speak more unless he desired to.

The sorting finally ended with Ronald Weasley being sorted into Gryffindor and Blaize Zabini being sorted into Slytherin. Harry noticed that the students continued to stare at him and in some cases glaring from some of the Gryffindor table as if he had betrayed them in some way. He knew that his parents had been sorted into Gryffindor but he felt no need to walk in there footsteps.

The headmaster rose theatrically from his throne and welcomed them to Hogwarts before waving his hand and the tables groaned, as a vast variety of food appeared on the tables. Harry selected some chicken and vegetables onto his plate with a small portion of rice. He noticed that everyone was still throwing looks and some glares in his direction, but he hid his annoyance and tuned them out.

He was glad that the full mouths of his fellow students had stopped the endless and often intrusive questions that they were throwing at him. Neville ate silently on the other side of Hermione while she seemed to hesitate before placing a small portion of the different dishes onto her plate.

The food vanished to be replaced by a variety of desserts but the only one that he liked the most was the treacle tart. The sounds of plates and utensils slowly lessened, and the dishes disappeared from the table. The headmaster rose again to speak advising them to keep out of the Forbidden forest, to notify them of a list of banned items and to keep away from the third floor unless they wished to experience a most painful death.

The last one caused the students to burst out into excited whispers, but Harry, Neville and Hermione just looked apprehensively at each other and silently agreed to avoid that floor as much as possible.

They heard the students around them burst into different melodies and when they looked to see why they saw the words of a song floating in the air over by the head table which they recognized to be the school song.

They had missed that last part from the headmaster, but they kept silent while the noise around them slowly subsided. The rest of students finally finished singing and were forced to wait until the two red headed twins slowly and obnoxiously dragged out the song for another minute.

The headmaster dismissed them with a smile and they were approached by two prefects, one male and the other female. The female student introduced herself as Tonks and only Tonks, and the male student identified himself as Walter Knoxville. They led them down some stairs and into the dungeons until they came before a large stack of barrels set against a section of the wall. She pointed out that the barrels were the entrance and could be accessed by tapping out Helga Hufflepuff on one of the barrels. The correct barrel to tap on was changed monthly and failure to use the correct sequence and or barrel would cause the barrels to spill vinegar on the person doing so.

Ms. Tonks stepped in front of the group of first year students and turned to address them.

"You will be forced to crawl through a series of barrels this first time as a security measure. The barrels will serve to record your magical signature and your facial features to ensure that only Hufflepuff students or those whom we allow entrance to, can enter. After the first time you will only have to walk past the barrel and let it close behind you before they will retract and allow immediate entrance into the room."

She tapped out the rhythm slowly for them to memorize and led them through the barrels which were surprisingly not claustrophobic for the first-year students.

They emerged into a large earthy, comfortable and circular room with low ceilings. The room was well lit with round windows that provided a view of flowers and thick green grass. The room had plants placed all around the room that enhanced the comfy feeling with a mixture of magical as well as mundane varieties.

A plump pleasant faced witch walked through a section of wall behind them surprising everyone, and she gestured to the entire house to gather together for an impromptu meeting.

"Normally I leave it up to the prefects to introduce you into the house and I meet with you tomorrow morning before breakfast to welcome you to Hogwarts and to our house. I had no choice but to notice the unwanted questions posed to Mr. Potter tonight at the feast and this is simply not what I am willing to accept from members of my house. We are looked down upon by most of the other houses and the wider magical community. This house supports each other as best as we can, and we do not harass anyone that is a member of this house. We stand for dedication, hard work, loyalty and fair play. Do not harass Mr. Potter again or I will deal with you personally to ensure that it stops."

She said all of this in a firm voice and the guilty persons bowed their heads sheepishly. She turned to Harry and apologized on the behalf of her house who nodded his head in acceptance of the apology.

Harry indicated to her that he would like to address the house briefly to which she motioned to him to go ahead.

Harry turned to the crowd of children who stared back at him with varied expressions on their faces as they were all unsure as to what he would say to them.

"I only found out about magic just a little over a year ago. I do not know who was responsible for spreading the lies written in those Harry Potter stories, but none of them are true. I also only learned about my parents and the sacrifice that they made to protect me against the Dark Lord, and how all the glory was given to a year-old toddler which makes absolutely no sense to me. I am a private person and I will be polite to those who offer politeness, but please do not assume or believe that I am anything like what you have read about in those books. I look forward to obtaining my magical education and I hope that we can get to know each other better in time, but please respect my privacy as I will respect yours."

He finished his speech and noted the various facial expressions of the students. He saw surprise, shock, disbelief and angry expressions as they processed his speech. Professor Sprout was speechless as she had not believed the books herself but had assumed that he was hidden away with a magical family at the least, or raised with knowledge of his heritage. She excused herself and indicated to Tonks that she could finish up her orientation before she left hurriedly.

Tonks went on to explain the curfew times of 10.00 pm to 6.00 am and how students caught outside would be issued detentions and or having house points deducted as well. She explained how the house point system worked and the awarding of the House trophy at the end of the school year. Breakfast started from 6 am to 8 am with classes starting at 8.30. Each class was usually for 45 minutes with the fifteen minutes allowed for first years to get from one class to the next.

She explained that Hufflepuff was more focused on looking out for each other and less so on the House trophy. The Quidditch Cup was the only thing that they cared about and Slytherin house had captured it for the last five years.

Assistance and tutoring would be offered within study groups by older students and required students to sign up for assistance if they found themselves needing help. They could also form groups on their own if they so desired, instead of joining an existing group. She also encouraged them to travel in small groups as they were sometimes targeted by other houses for bullying.

She stated proudly that, "We protect our own."

She showed them to their dorm rooms and explained that they could choose their own roommates and that each room carried its own bathrooms. She urged them to go to bed early so that they would wake up on time and that they would be escorted to the main hall at seven the next morning until they got to know the castle for themselves.

She dismissed them and proceeded to walk over to a group of fifth year students and started chatted with them. Hermione ended up with a room of her own as the other girls in her year had already paired off. She found that she did not mind as she was a single child and it would take time to acclimatize to sharing a space.

Neville and Harry quickly paired off and selected a room at the end of the hallway and walked inside. They found two comfortable looking beds covered in a black and yellow zig zag design and a circular desk between them with two chairs pushed beneath. Their trunks appeared after they took a seat at the table, and they proceeded to unpack and make themselves comfortable.

Harry closed his trunk after arranging a few pictures and knickknacks on the headboard above his bed and grabbed Neville to go outside and chat with Hermione.

She was sitting down on one of the couches and she smiled when they approached her and plopped down beside her.

They were left alone but they noticed that some of the students would eye them covertly in what they thought was an inconspicuous manner. Finally, two of the other first years gathered their courage up and came over to speak to them in a somewhat shy and hesitant manner.

They stopped before them and one of them took a deep breath and introduced herself and her companion.

"Good evening, my name is Susan Bones, and this is my friend Hannah Abbott. We would both like to welcome you to the wizarding world and apologize for hounding you like that at the table. Please understand that we were exposed to those books and stories at a very young age and assured that they were true. It is only when we got older that we realized that they may not have been as accurate as we were told that they were."

Harry thanked her and introduced Neville and Hermione to them. Hermione noticed that they did not treat her differently when they noticed that she was a muggle-born and Neville had had some brief interactions with them at formal events but had never talked to them outside of those situations.

They chatted and learned that Susan was the niece of the Amelia Bones and the current head of the DMLE. She mentioned no parents which they noted. Hannah Abbott was her childhood friend and they grew up together and often spent time at each other's houses. They left, and this seemed to start the flood of visitors. It was a series of introductions and apologies and Harry while uncomfortable with all the attention, maintained his polite façade as he interacted with the rest of the house.

When the crowd finally wore off they rose to their feet as they were starting to feel the fatigue of the long train ride and the events of the night so far.

They bid farewell to each other and proceeded back to their dorm rooms. Neville and Harry quickly fell asleep after taking a long hot shower and donning their nightwear.

Hermione lay alone in her room with a mixture of emotions keeping her from falling asleep. She was happy that she had met two future friends in Harry and Neville, but she was frustrated at the prejudice present within the magical world. She was glad that she got to use magic, but she was unsure as to the future ahead because even if she was the best student at Hogwarts because of her blood status she had no real future ahead in the magical world as it currently existed.

She sighed and closed her eyes as she recognized that it was not an issue with an easy answer and it made no sense trying to figure it out right away. She fell asleep quickly and fell into a deep slumber once she came to this conclusion.

 **The next day**

When Harry woke it took him a moment to catch his bearing in the unfamiliar environment. The window to the castle showed dark skies but his internal clock was telling him that it was his normal wakeup time. He reached for his wand and cast the tempus spell and noted that it was 4.45 am.

He got as quietly as he could out of bed and climbed down from the top bunk and made his way over to his trunk. He selected the correct key to open his exercise compartment and entered to perform his morning exercises.

When he came out after an hour he noticed Neville was now coming out of the shower and starting to get dressed. He nodded a greeting to him and grabbed his towel to go and get cleaned up as well.

After he came out and dressed they left their room together and made their way into the common room. They found Hermione sitting on one of the couches and reading a book on transfiguration quietly. They both observed her briefly before they called her name to get her attention which caused her to almost drop the book as she was surprised at their sudden appearance.

She seemed surprised to see them outside so early but put down the book and made room for them to sit beside her. The room was relatively deserted, and they made sure that no one was paying attention to them before they leaned together and began to make plans.

Harry pulled a notebook out of his mokeskin pouch and a fountain pen and started the conversation.

"Hermione, Neville. We need to come up with a plan on how we are going to attack our studies. We need to find somewhere to practice our magic in private and to hone our skills. We can see how the first week of classes go and see what areas we need to work on the most and what our weaknesses and strengths are."

Neville and Hermione nodded their heads in agreement. They began chatting about what they had liked so far from the books they had studied. Hermione was most interested in transfiguration and charms while Neville was interested in potions and herbology. Harry confessed that he was interested in all the subjects so far except for astronomy and potions. He told them of practicing preparing potions over the summer after obtaining his supplies and finding the subject workable but volatile and too time intensive to appeal to him. He saw the potential benefits but preferred to focus on more active magic. He liked Defense against the Dark Arts because it focused more on defensive and offensive magic.

They nodded and fell into idle chatter while the common room began to fill up and empty as students made their way down to breakfast. Tonks appeared and after counting to ensure that they were all present she led them to the Great Hall. When they arrived for breakfast they found the hall half full and sat down to eat breakfast.

They enjoyed the wide variety of dishes on offer and each of them ate their fill before placing their forks down on their plates. When the meal was complete, and the Hall was filled with students, Professor Sprout came over to their table and started distributing their timetables.

They looked over the timetable and noticed that they had a single class of Charms first with the Ravenclaws, followed by a double class of Herbology with the Gryffindor's before breaking for lunch. Lunch lasted for an hour and a half was followed by two more classes on Potions with the Ravenclaws in the afternoon finishing at 3 pm, with dinner being served from 5 until 7 pm. The time between the end of classes and dinner they decided to use for studying and homework. The period after dinner they would take to relax and use for personal projects.

The Charms class was to their initial disappointment mainly focused on the importance of wand movements and what made charms different from transfiguration. Charms was focused on animating items, color changes and any other magical effect which did not change the shape or structure of an object. They did get a chance to practice the Lumos spell which just required them to point their wands and say Lumos out loud without any want movements. It was designed to be used as a source of light in the dark and required little magical effort to produce.

Harry, Hermione and Neville had no issues getting their wand tips lighting up but some of their classmates seemed to have difficulty performing the spell. Susan, Hannah and most of the Ravenclaws got it down easily as well with only a few Hufflepuff students struggling, before Professor Flitwick was able to talk them though what they were doing wrong. By the end of the class all the students had got the spell down and Harry had started experimenting with different colors on his wand tip. He had earned ten points for Hufflepuff and another five after he had explained to both Neville and Hermione how to repeat the same feat with their own wands.

Susan and Hannah had overheard his explanation and after a few moments had been able to duplicate the same results to their surprise. Professor Flitwick had explained to the remaining members of the class that intent mattered when casting and the verbal incantation was used to focus their magic and intent which shaped their magic to do their intended action. Hermione's quill flew over her parchment as she made copious notes as Professor Flitwick explained the mechanism behind casting a spell successfully.

They made their way to the greenhouses through a side entrance of the castle after making their way down to the ground floor and having to pause several times to get directions from the portraits. Harry sighed to himself as he did not understand why a school would be so difficult to navigate. They were provided with a map, but the shifting hallways and stairways made it useless for the most part.

The Herbology class focused on the importance of safety and using the proper protective equipment consistently as all the magical plants posed some potential for danger. She showed them a Venomous Tentacula and a Devil's Snare. She explained that they would mostly observe the more dangerous plants in the first year with the emphasis on safe handling procedures.

She explained magical and mundane plants had a common origin, but the presence of magic had caused many changes to occur between the common and magical varieties, eventual experimentation had led to many new species being created as magic allowed for many more options in combining desired traits and benefits.

The major drawback that magical plants had was a greater need for nutrients from the soil and occasional access to magic at various stages of their development. This was thankfully not usually a large amount but the more magic and nutrients available the faster the plants developed and matured. Larger and more specialized magical plants required more magic which meant that they could only be raised in magic rich environments such as schools, large magical families or over naturally magic rich areas. The use of spells left magical residue, which dependent of the intent of the magic used could cause mutation resulting in plants becoming useful for healing and nutrition or poisonous according to the aspect of dark or light the magic was used for.

She went on to explain how the manure from magical animals was necessary compared to using animals from the mundane variety as the sheer volume of nutrients required for magical plant varieties could turn fertile soil into desert land. She used the example some of the desert regions throughout the world were former magical areas that had performed multiple and dangerous experiments trying to create magical super plants.

The combination and the number of traits they tried to include into one plant had resulted in a massive drain on the soil over a period of time, and the eventual damage had led to the forced evacuation of the area along with strict regulations on magical plant breeding.

Harry wrote copious notes in his notebooks which he summoned absentmindedly, as this gave him some fascinating ideas for how to apply his agricultural interests into a method of earning a living as an adult. He wondered if it was possible to reconvert desert lands back into arable lands using magical methods. He made a note to himself to do further research into this as it provided a possible alternative in locating an area for resettling and avoiding having to live among wizard-kind when he completed his education.

He did not yet know what type of career he wanted but he knew he did not wish to spend his life behind a desk any more than the minimum amount necessary. He wanted freedom of movement and easy access to the outdoors and mobility.

Neville was fascinated and bubbled with happiness as he made his own sets of notes. He truly enjoyed working with plants and this class alone had given him new ways of improving his greenhouses with just the first lesson alone.

Hermione's thoughts flew over the administrative issues that managing magical plants and mundane plants could cause, as she vowed to seek a way to overcome the limitations that large-scale cultivation could present.

They were given some magical parsley to be moved into larger pots as they had become to big for their current pots. The only difference between them and the mundane variety was the blue color of the plant and a much stronger aroma than their green mundane origins.

The Gryffindors did not seem to enjoy the practical aspects of the class and some grumbled loudly at the uselessness of the subject. They were ignored by Professor Sprout who informed them that anyone who deliberately sabotaged the class would earn a month's detention and the loss of fifty points as a starting point. This instantly quelled most of the rebels among the Gryffindors and soon the only noise that could be heard was the noise from plant pots and gardening tools being used.

Harry smirked as Hermione and Neville met his eyes and they silently shared a moment of amusement as they each gave a mental thanks that they had not been sorted into that house. The Gryffindors had in the one class they had seen so far showed a clan mentality and a rebelliousness attitude to authority that promised lots of future conflict.

They packed up their bags after the class was ended and made their way to the Great Hall for lunch chatting about what they had enjoyed in the classes so far.

He noted the youngest red head from Gryffindor approach him as they entered the entrance and ignoring both of his companions introduce himself as Ronald Weasley and his future tour guide to all things of the wizarding world.

Harry looked at him from head to toe and saw nothing that impressed him. The boy was tall and gangly, he was rude in ignoring his companions, his eyes were staring at his forehead attempting to locate his famous scar and he was the biggest complainer in the last class they had just had.

Harry ignored the outstretched hand and in as polite and as bland a manner as possible spoke, "I am not in need of a guide, but I thank you for offering your services."

He continued to the Hufflepuff table and missed how the boy's face turned red in embarrassment and then in anger as he realized that he had been snubbed. He was about to turn around and march behind him to confront the arrogant arse, when he noticed that Draco Malfoy was standing there with his two sidekicks sneering at him.

The resulting confrontation stopped short of blows after the sight of Professor Snape prowling towards them had stopped Ronald from swinging his clenched fist into Draco's face. Draco had proposed an honor duel at midnight in the trophy room which Ronald had jumped on without realizing the baited trap that it was.

His twin brothers had witnessed the confrontation but after sharing a glance had decided to let Ron face his own battles, hopefully he would learn the importance of self-control from it. Percy Weasley, his older brother and a Gryffindor prefect noted the confrontation but seeing it break up without conflict, figured that it had been resolved and walked over to the Ravenclaw table to chat with his love interest Penelope Clearwater.

Harry and his friends enjoyed their lunch and made their way to their common room to relax after their meal. They lounged on the couches in the common room before getting up to make their way to the Potions classroom where they met the Ravenclaws milling around the closed door of waiting for the Professor to arrive.

The door swung open exactly at 1.00 pm and the students entered the classroom and sat at the stations provided and placed their potions texts on the table. The classroom door swung open suddenly causes a few students to squeak in fear. The classroom was poorly lit, had strange looking ingredients contained in jars and the figure entering wearing a black cloak that swirled around him as he walked and harsh unattractive features caused one of the Ravenclaws girls to start crying out in fear.

He sneered contemptuously and snarled at her, "Cease your crying you dunderhead before I removed 100 points for being an annoying crybaby." He smiled darkly at the forced cessation of tears and the strained expression on her face as she fought to hold back her tears and her fear of him.

He instructed them to put their useless wands away and started extolling the unique possibilities and flexibility of potions, with the students of the class staring at him in awe as he listed the possibilities from halting death to fame and fortune.

He noted that the spawn of Potter did not share the awe of his classmates and when he caught his eye sent a Legilimency probe at him seeking to see what the spoiled brat was thinking.

His probe revealed a defined structure within his mind which made him cautious because very few wizards can build up an able defense to protect them from mental intrusions via Legilimency. He sneered contemptuously as he made his way into the structure through the door and obvious trap, but to his surprise he found only an empty room with a chair at the end of a corridor. He destroyed the chair in frustration and to his shock some creatures began attacking him and draining his probe and hence his magic. He attempted to overpower the creatures and destroy them but a sharp and heavy blow to his testicles caused him to stiffen up and break off the probe.

He looked around in shock and noted that the Potter boy's wand was not present on the desk, so he wondered who could have hit him or how. He eyed him suspiciously, but his glare was ignored as if it was non-consequential to him. Snape knew that he could not accuse him openly without the proof from a wand showing that he had cast a spell, and that his attempt to probe his mind was illegal and would see him in Azkaban before the end of the day.

Harry laughed internally as he was fully aware of Professor Snape's probe and he resolved to start teaching Neville and Hermione the art of controlling their magic and protecting their minds from mental probes. If he made any new friends he would include them in his teaching, but he did not plan on taking responsibility for educating or teaching anyone without a good reason or some form or reward.

He had learned already from his own life experiences that people rarely appreciated things that were given freely and that they did not earn through hard work and dedication. The remainder of the class went quickly as the damage done to Snape's nutsack had rendered him incapable of free movement and speech. His face never gave away his pain, but his stiff movements signaled that all was not well with him.

The class was not well taught and the only instructions he gave were from those on the board. He gave no insights or explanations and only snarled at any student who requested help, "Follow the instructions exactly as they appear on the board, You Dunderheads. IF you want an explanation read your textbooks."

Harry, Hermione and Neville shared a look as they silently acknowledged that this class would be mostly self-study. They submitted their sample of the potions at the end of the class under the nasty glare of their Professor and made their way to their common room quietly. The day had started out great and magic had shown great promise but from the last class they had experienced, quality instruction was not guaranteed in every class.

Severus Snape groaned after the last student left and shuffled over to his potions cabinet to retrieve a pain-relieving potion, which he swallowed quickly. He never believed in showing weakness to anyone because his experiences had shown that this led to exploitation or manipulation. He went over the events preceding his mind probe and realized that there were no warning signs that Potter brat had occlumency. He briefly considered warning Dumbledore but sneered to himself that Dear Albus deserved to experience for himself the pleasure of exploring James Potter's son's mindscape for himself.

 _I am ending it here for now. My apologies for taking so long to update after setting such a rapid pace initially but I was on vacation and trying to incorporate magic and narrating the life of young students in this fictional environment is proving more difficult than I anticipated. I have a greater appreciation for fanfiction writers than ever before after stepping into the ring myself and while I am open to suggestions and room for improvement, please note that I am relatively new to this writing fiction, translating ideas from your head to the written form is challenging to me. I hope to improve as I go along, and I thank everyone who takes the time to read my creation._


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